Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)
by LaMismaChika
Summary: Was it possible to think of 10 crazy things before breakfast? WELL, Brandon Montgomery has found that in the not so sweet town of Riverdale, she can think of ten downright insane things before breakfast! that is... if she wakes up in time. Murder, and mystery, and milkshakes! Oh, my! (Not a Bughead fic)
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

"aw come on…"

Brandy groaned in distaste at her best friend who was holding the house phone to his ear with a cocky smirk so large it was actually going to split his face in half if it grew any larger. They were ordering pizza as their 'night before school gets back together treat', except she left Jughead to do the ordering so really it was not a 'treat' at all.

"Yes, a pineapple and ham pizza with five mozzarella balls" he repeated into the device, snickering at her. She was having none of it and lifted up a pillow from her bed threatening to throw it at him with a silent glare. "and add another pepperoni pizza please" he added quickly, raising his free arm in the air just in case Brandy decided he deserved to be pummeled to death with a pillow anyway, instead she glared harder at him. "… with extra cheese and stuffed crust" he completed and she grinned happily at him, dropping the pillow and flopping back down onto the bed contently. "yeah, deliver to the Montgomery resident, that'll be all, thanks"

Jughead hung up the phone and put it down on the desk, shooting her a small disapproving glance as he did so. "Was all of that really necessary?"

"Who orders Pineapple on pizza? Juggie you absolute sinner!" she giggled knowing full well it was her best friends favorite pizza, much like how he knew it was her least favorite pizza, but she still kind of enjoyed teasing him about it.

"it's the best flavor, most people don't like it because it's become the social norm to be disgusting on pizza" he replied, flopping down besides her on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "if you were to actually invest yourself into trying it you might find you actually like it"

"mmmm, yeah, no. i'll pass thanks" she smirked at him, flipping over onto her belly and continuing to choose a color to paint her nails, so far she was torn between peach pink and sky blue. "i don't care about the social norm, it's still a sin to have pineapple on pizza. When I order pizza i'm not trying to kid anybody that i'm being healthy"

"whatever" he chuckled softly.

"hmm" she hummed, still pondering over the colors, deciding to turn to her oh so trusty sidekick "which color do you think will be best to wear on the first day back to school? Pink is my obvious go to color but I was thinking blue gives off a more confident vibe and its especially cute"

Jughead didn't even turn his head "Blue to match the watery death that Jason Blossom was condemned to"

She blinked, the unexpected comment that came from Jughead had been bubbling for over three days now. She knew full well Jughead had history with the prince of Riverdale that was Jason Blossom, not good history at that. No, Jason had been somewhat of an asshole to her bestie over the past few years, tripping him in hall ways and calling him a freak, the classic jock bullying style. True, Jason was not as bad as his fellow jocks but he still contributed to the misery that was Jughead's high school life. Brandy had continuously tried to put an end to it by going to Principle Weatherbee over 5 thousand times but no matter what he did it never seemed to stop, and her Juggie hated her getting involved so ALWAYS told her to stop, but like she'd do that.

So yes the comment was sick but that was just Jughead for you.

"Okay, now i'm definitely wearing pink and officially hella creeped out, thanks a bunch"

"You're welcome"

"They never found a body" She continued blandly, thinking over the past few weeks whilst beginning to paint her nails peach pink, starting on the thumb nail. Jason and her had some history too, but she refused to go back to those memories. "do you think he's actually dead?"

Jughead made an uncomfortable noise and flipped over onto his stomach as well, watching her work. "probably"

"But what if he's not?" she pressed with a sigh, she really hated death, especially when she knew the victim, it just reminded her of her mother who died 16 years ago, Brandy never knew her obviously… but still missed her none the less. Jason however, she had conflicting emotions over. He may have been an asshole to her but… did he really deserve to die? "what if he's just… stuck, out there all by himself."

"Dee, they had a funeral for him" Jughead reasoned without much interest in his voice, but then he raised his eyebrows although remembering something "an empty coffin must have made an awkward funeral"

Deciding the topic was far to sincere now she moved it on "so, I hear my little writer Juggie is starting up a novel" Brandy said with a smirk, nudging her best friend with her elbow making him swat her. "about Jason? When do I get to read this masterpiece! Obviously I must give you pointers and be mentioned in the blurb"

"never"

"What?! Please! I wanna see" she whined in his ear loudly.

He swatted her again "maybe"

she grinned triumphantly "maybe isn't a never"

"Maybe i'll think about it"

"Shut up"

Jughead chuckled lightly at her, whilst she stuck her tongue out at him with a playful glare then went back to painting her nails.

Riverdale was a quiet town, deaths didn't happen often unless you were outgrown by the town. The death of Jason Blossom had hit the town like a tornado, ripping its way through so that everybody knew, and the Blossoms were not private about the whole ordeal. Brandy was particularly dreading Cheryl in school tomorrow, she was Jason's twin, also the last person to be seen with Jason. The red headed twins were the golden children of Riverdale, practically dripping in maple syrup with how innocent their parents made them out to be, pretty much inseparable. To some extent Brandy did feel for Cheryl, but the girl was just such a bitch. To spare the details, lets just say she was your classic high school mean girl.

School tomorrow was definitely going to be interesting, and not just because of Cheryl, there was a certain bromance at stake and in need of some repairing…

"Anything from Archiekins yet?" she asked, smiling down at her finished nails in pride at how none of the color had smudged off the nail. NOW THAT was impressive. Painting your nails wasn't just a beauty decoration, it was an art. One that she had perfected over the years.

"Don't call him that" Jughead winced at the nickname given to the third member to their trio who was currently absent, and had been for the entirety of summer without giving any notice as to where he's gone or when he's returning. "And nothing since last time you asked, which was this morning by the way, i'm keeping a tally of how many times you ask me that question in a day"

She scowled at him "You're still mad at him?"

Jughead shrugged and made a small 'meh' noise in his throat, eyes having dark circles under them making her qonder how much sleep he'd gotten recently "Thats my secret, i'm alway's mad"

She snorted in amusement "Points for the avengers reference." they were too nerdy sometimes, but as for the topic of Archie, she chose wisely to dodge that as well. Jughead seemed particularly on edge today, which was probably a result of tomorrow being the first day back to school. "What do you think?" she asked, proudly displaying her nails in front of his face which had previously been resting happily on his arms staring at her cream carpet.

"What am I? Your gay best friend?" Jughead scoffed, pulling his beanie down over his eyes so he was unable to see. She pouted despite this, him and that damn beanie. He'd always had a beanie on his head, even when they were kids. Okay maybe they were still kids mentally, but psychically they could definitely fool somebody.

Brandy and Jughead went way back to preschool, so basically they'd been besties for ever. They'd also become friends with Betty Cooper and Archie Andrews. They were quite possibly the oddest combination of people to be together going to primary and secondary school. See, quite typically you'd have your classic group of jocks with rugby balls hanging out by the lockers or the stadiums, then there was your clique of 'popular' girls who classically had manicured nailed and perfect hair, then your clique of nerds who sent paper airplanes across classrooms and hallways, or maybe even that small cult of goths and emos who would hang about summoning satan.

But their squad, was none of these. They were strange and different and oh so wonderful in Brandy's eyes. THEIR squad was basically all of these stereotypes mashed into one, sorta. Betty was the genius, obviously, she was going to make sure the rest of the squad didn't all die or go bankrupt in the future. Archie, a jock but there was more to him, he was imaginative and secretly loved music but has never been confident enough to try it out. Then her dearest Jughead, who was as some might sat the oddball, he lived on the dodgy end of town and wasn't the richest kid in school, got bullied, but was secretly a genius as well. He was a nerd, whether he denied it or not.

Brandy, well, she was the 'strange' part of the squad, typically she was seen as the girly girl of the squad. Not quite as innocent as Betty, but still putting on a pale pink lipgloss and wearing summery dresses. However, she could go from girly girl to tomboy in 3.5 seconds if she wanted to. Mainly because she was just a teeny winy bit prone to be a bit hot headed in situations. JUST A LITTLE.

So it had always been them four, through thick and thin, as cheesy as it sounded it was true, they always had each others back, even if the only drama in this small town was whether Cheryl Blossom was wearing matte red lipstick or glossy red lipstick. However, their little band of misfits was somewhat divided, it had always been Archie and Betty and Jughead and Brandy, that was just how it rolled. Their group wasn't exactly this small, there was also Kevin who often hung out with them, and Melanie who was more Brandy's friend than anybody else, she hated that name thought and often went by as Mel.

"Pshh no, I already have G.B.F called Kevin" she retorted blatantly and shuffled off the bed, grabbing the remote from her white, wooden bedside table and switching on the tv that was screwed onto the other wall. "you, are my B.F.F, which I suppose is practically the same thing in your case"

"I'm not gay, Brandy!" he mumbled into his arm, but she saw the smirk pull at his lips and crease his eyes. "you know that."

She laughed and patted his shoulder as she sat back down, still absently flicking through channels until she landed on 'Friends' and saw it was the episode were they try to get the sofa up the stairs. Satisfied, she put the remote down "i know- I know"

"Is school absolutely essential?"

here we go…

"Yes"

"So you're saying that if I were to.. I don't know, not turn up say, that would be bad?"

"You'd leave me to face the wrath of Mr Holts alone? You monster"

"Hm, if I go will you at least stop bugging me about my novel?" he pleaded her, shifting onto his side to watch the episode on the tv as well.

"Maybe" she grinned at him mischievously "maybe i'll think about it. Tell you what, lets make a bet"

"On…?

"Whether Betty will ask Archie to back to-school semi-formal dance or chicken out at the last minute, 10 bucks, what do you say, Juggie?" she held out her hand trying to send off a 'deal with the devil' vibe to intimidate Jug, which of course did not work at all.

He rose his eyebrows for a moment then shook her hand confidently "You're on, Montgomery"

 _Ding_

"PIZZA!"

* * *

AN:

 **Hiiii! Wasn't that a brilliant introduction, personally i think pizza is the way to open any story, because who doesn't like pizza? you're welcome. anyway, yes, Riverdale, only the best Tv show since Teen Wolf season 3, am i right? This is my first Riverdale fic because i'm a geek and fell in love with the show so just HAD to write something. i hope who ever is crazy enough to read this enjoys it! This was kinda of just an introduction chapter, we'll get into the actual story next time! promise.**

 **.**


	2. A New Face

The next day rolled around far to fast for Brandy's liking, one moment she was led on her bed merrily enjoying messing around with her best friend, munching on overly greasy pizza and talking nonsense until he left at around 10pm where she decided playing her violin until 1am was a good idea. Last year she was tutored by Miss Grundy who had assigned her another tutor over the summer.

Then, it was morning.

"Honey! Come on, your gonna be later for your first day back!" her dad called from outside, already sat in the truck ready to go.

"coming!" Brandy called back, racing down the stairs whilst still pulling her hair into a relatively loose bun. she'd woken up late. There was a marvelous plan about waking up early, doing a jog, eating granola for breakfast, then looking bang-tastic for school.

No.

That did not happen. She had woken up ten minutes later than she usually did on a school day which ultimately meant her shower time had been cut back to five minutes. Luckily theres always time for makeup so at least that was somewhat on point, and she was wearing a short cut cotton candy pink dress that matched her caramel curly hair well, then a low cut sleeveless denim jacket with it, paired with some brown heeled boots. Then, to perfect the look a small diamond necklace that her dad had given her last year for her birthday.

Her dad was all she really had and all she'd ever had to look up to. His parents lived in Britain so she rarely saw them, and her mothers side of the family sometimes came down during the holiday seasons but other than that avoided Brandy and her dad like the plague. But, she did receive some mean ass ugly jumpers from them on christmas every year. Last year she had a bright blue one with a reindeer dancing in the snow with the words 'Merry Christmas ya Filthy Animal!' sowed in white wool across the top.

As she ran out the door she locked it quickly with her key then skipped down the steps, holding her pale blue bag close and darting over to the truck. It wasn't much of a truck, in fact it was on its last wheels judging by its appearance, but it had been on its last wheel for about five years now so it was still as faithful as ever. They called the truck Iron Giant as it was so friggen big! She wanted to call it Iron man as it was a rustic red but her dad said it wasn't a man so calling it iron man wouldn't make any sense.

Slamming the truck door shut she clipped on her seatbelt "We picking up Jug today?" her dad asked casually as he pulled out the drive and began the journey to school. It was a reoccurring theme to give Jughead a lift to school now, usually he'd sleep over but since he hadn't done so or messaged her she decided against it.

"nah, he'll find his own way to school probably- OH that reminds me, the school dance is on tonight and I'm going to get ready at Archies if thats okay? Maybe Jughead will come along to but I doubt it as he hates social events." she remembered her plan to get Archie and Jughead in the same room as she knew Jug would sulk and not want to go near Archie. Honestly, boys were such girls.

"sure thing, just be back from the dance by 10 alright? After Jason I want you to stay savvy, alright honey?" her dad consoled her, shooting a side glance as he drove past the park.

"it was an accident" She tried simply, not having any argument in her tone as she did see her dads logic.

"that may be, but I still want you to be careful"

"i'm always careful" she smiled at him reassuringly "i was raised by you, i'm the savviest girl in town"

"that you are" he nodded with a hint of pride in his eyes as they pulled up at the school " see you later sweetheart, bring me back a donut from Pop's after the dance?"

"sugar coated and jam filled, got it" she smirked and jumped out of the car, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she lifted herself out from the truck, stepping daintily down onto the concrete gronuding.

"oh and Brandy, and old friend of mine just moved into town, got a daughter bout your age, watch out for her will ya?" her dad asked in a very fatherly tone that said 'this may sound optional but it really isn't.

"sure thing, bye dad!" she waved him off as he drove away then bounced into school, full predator mode hunting down a particular red head who was in a whole bunch of trouble. An alive red head who was in whole lot of trouble. Sure enough, after power-walking through the first corridor towards the lockers she located her target, eyes sparkling as a grin tore open on her face open and she broke into a run, surprisingly managing to dodge the numerous people crowding the corridor until she reached her target.

"Redzee!" she squealed, jumping onto the boy and wrapping her arms around his into a deathlock kind of hug that the poor jock had no chance of escaping from. Archie squawked and stumbled back a few steps before laughing and hugging her back "i missed you so much!" suddenly she gasped and stepped backwards looking him up and slapping his stomach before he could even get a word in making him yelp in protest.

"ow- hey!" he complained as she started feeling his stomach in amazement, batting her searching hands away, and failing miserably. "Stop touching me up in the middle of the hall- people are staring!" he hissed with eyes darting around anxiously.

"since _when_ did you have abs" Brandy exclaimed loudly so that the whole corridor now knew. When she looked at Archie she no longer saw the kid who was battling puberty that vanished for majority of summer, now she saw … well now she saw a completely hench badass red head! "who are you and what have you done with my Archie Andrews?" she continued with folded arms, shooting him an impressed smirk.

"c'mere, Brandy" Archie scoffed with a light chuckle, pulling her into another hug "i missed you too" he spoke over her shoulder, tightening his grip slightly to purposely suffocate her.

"Arch- need- air" she stammered out going rigid in his grasp as he chuckled and released her, she grinned back then forced a scowl to morph onto her face, remembering she was originally angry "oh no you don't! you're not getting off the hook that easily Mr! where have you been all summer! No Pop's! No calls! No nothing except some flimsy message about going to work for your dad!"

"i was" Archie confirmed with a defensive nod as he once more began packing his locker that had awaited him all summer, with books and other school essentials. Brandy's locker was going to be filled with emergency Reece's Pieces. You know, essentials. "working construction on the site- I promised my dad I would, you know? Not gonna lie it's been hard."

"Well if you come out of construction working looking like _that_ then sign me up! Did you do anything else over summer? Any late night work out sessions? i'm onto you Redzee" she narrowed her eyes playfully having a hard time believing that she had only seen this guy five times over summer and that was just brief encounters at the start of it. And Archie lived opposite her for Christ sake!

"N-no. Nothing really, I didn't have time." he replied, looking downwards and purposely avoiding her now skeptical gaze. "what about you, hows your summer been?"

"oh, you know, the usual. Hung out with Betty and Jug a lot" she answered, shooting him a glare of accusation and choosing to brush off the funny feeling she was getting. "and I worked with that tutor Grundy set me up with all summer, he was such a creep! He was like 60 or something and kept giving me weird looks, I swear I nearly became the next Jason Blossom." she babbled on, not failing to notice him tense after her mentioning of Grundy. Hm, weird, Archie is usually pretty chill.

"sounds it" Archie had furrowed eyebrows.

Before she could begin her subtle interrogation to satisfy the funny feeling building in her stomach Reggie slammed himself against the lockers by them, admiring Archies new physic just as Brandy had.

"Bro, you are ready for football. Im not kidding you, dude. You got ripped. Dude, you're a beast. Look at this arm. How much are you benching? Like 220, 225?" Reggie observed with awe, feeling the muscle built up in Archies arm. Then his eyes briefly diverted onto her "sup Brandy"

"Hey Reggie" she wiggled her fingers at him, snickering at how smug Archie looked as he shut his locker .

"you gotta give me some tips, man Romanian dead lift, right? Taking some tea? Ginseng? Maca Root? Tribulus terrestris?" Reggie went on, trailing after Archie as the other boy began walking away to class, even though there was still about ten minutes until actual lessons began.

"builders tea" Brandy snorted in amusement, Archie shot her a look of mild irritation.

"its from working construction, Reg" He informed the nagging other who wasn't going to leave poor Archie alone, thats jocks for you.

"yeah, thats right- YO Moose, look who grew up over the summer" Reggie called over to his friend, another fellow asshole jock. Brandy liked none of them but would be polite as Archie was… sorta friends with them. And Kevin totally liked Moose. "yo, be honest with me, did you work on any houses? Any private homes?"

Brandy had counted that Reggie had said 'Yo' at least 10 times by now...

"yeah a couple" Archie responded, slipping into his jockey jacket with ease. Brandy felt a bit like a hobbit surrounded by all these tall jocks, she was remarkably small for her age, hitting a strong 5'3. so impressive. How she makes the cheerleading squad with Cheryl's strict entry requirements baffled her to no end, probably because she was unhealthily skinny. No, she was not Anorexic she just had an extremely fast metabolism which is how she plows through a burger, fries a chocolate milkshake and half of Jughead's fries when he's not looking without gaining an ounce of fat. Or, maybe she's just lucky!

"did you tap… some cougar ass this summer?" Reggie asked carefully, all ears on the ginger who was clearly enjoying this attention at least a little bit. Brandy actually laughed a bit too loud.

"you know what? I think thats more a fantasy from your wank bank, Reggie" Archie shot back with a cocky smirk, causing Brandy to laugh more and high five her other best friend. She taught him well. "i'll catch you guys soon" he said as the pair of them departed around a corner. Archie seemed to be heading for the drama department "later, Bran"

"i hate that name!" She called after him as he left with a huff as he laughed and waved at her as he disappeared into the crowd.

Shaking her head after him she couldn't help but ponder over why she was getting funny vibes from Archibald...it was something about the way he tensed up early and he's acting all… weird. Something was definitely up with that guy. Well, If there was anything Brandy Montgomery was good at, it was knowing when something was up with her besties. And everything about Archie was screaming something was up.

Oh boy, more secrets, just another school year!

.

She spent the next five minutes getting her class timetables and filling her locker before she saw Kevin, Betty and another girl with raven, shoulder-length, hair walking up the corridor. Brandy raised her eyebrows at the new girl in slight admiration, she was hot, and rich. Obviously. This must have been the girl her dad was talking about. Well, promises ARE promises.

Cheerfully she skipped over to her friends and came to a stop just as the new girl looked her way and grabbed Betty excitedly "there's the hottie you were with last nigh, the red-headed Ansel Elgort" she spoke and Brandy looked back to see Archie coming from the drama backstage room. She contemplated going after him as he took off the other way up the corridor but opted against it seeing as she was intrigued by the new girl.

"Huh, I always thought he looked like Robert Pattison" Brandy commented, butting straight into the conversation without much more hesitation. "well, maybe a hotter, younger, better version"

The new girl blinked at her in surprise then smiled and twirled her hair around her finger "is he your boyfriend?" the question wasn't directed at anybody in particular, and she was still gazing after Archikins.

"No, we're just friends"

"No, he's straight"

"Over my dead body"

They all spoke at the same time, staring after Archie as he disappeared AGAIN around a corner, Archie was just hell bent on being mysterious today…

The new girl smirked in success "in that case, mind putting in a word? i've tried every flavor of boy but orange" she said, nudging Betty as they began walking. Ouch. Poor Betty. Brandy could see the blonde girl gawp unsurely, staring down at her shoes.

Before Brandy could jump to her aid Kevin beat her "actually, to clarify Betty and Archie aren't dating, but they are endgame." he surmised quickly. Betty smiled and awkwardly clapped her hands together like some big secret was out.

"Yeah, plus I have to win a bet" she added then extended her hand for the new girl to shake "The names Brandy Montgomery" she smiled.

"What bet?" Betty mumbled but Brandy ignored her.

"Veronica Lodge, nice to meet you.. Brandy?" the other girl smiled politely, clearly warming up to Brandy but confused by her name.

"Oh, it's short for Brandon. My dad named me, and I guess his favorite drink at the time was a brandy so apparently naming his kid the same thing was a logical course of action to take," she clarified so that Veronica didn't think she was weird. Compared to her best friend, Brandy was actually quite welcoming to new people since she actually smiled at them instead of glaring to get the to leave, it was called being polite, something her best friend was quite unfamiliar with at times.

"Ah, dads, mine calls me Ronnie half the time I totally get it" Veronica smiled knowingly, her eyes twinkling with happiness that Brandy could only assume came from making new friends. "i love your dress btw, literally that color is so you"

"Why thank you" Brandy smiled happily and did a little twirl, crashing into Kevin and muttering a small sorry. Damn her clumsiness. Kevin laughed and steadied her quickly so she didn't fall over again.

"You really are as graceful as a walrus on a trampoline" Kevin snorted, "how do you survive ballet lessons, again?"

"Kev, I am a perfectly functional human being unlike you! jeez you're so tall! God, has everybody changed this summer? Betty you're still the same marvelous little goody toe shoes blonde I know and love, right?!" Brandy cried out excitedly, bouncing in her steps as they walked, taking in her friends properly for the first time. Betty was indeed, still innocent little Betty who wouldn't hurt a fly.

The group chuckled and Kevin patted her on the back "FYI i'm only 6'0 so about average for a male"

"Yeah well you look like a giant" she retorted wittily, slightly peeved that she hadn't had a growth spirt yet. "how was your summer then?"

"Horrible" Kevin answered immedietly "The drama levels within this friendship group is shocking, Brandy you have been MIA so i've had to rely on Betty when we both know that her drama circulates a certain ginger who roams these halls. Since nothing in that department has altered i've had to take drastic measure in actually hanging out with my dad at the office."

"Hey! I was not missing in action, I was at Pop's most of the time with Jug- wait I saw you last week Kev" she protested with a soft smirk, choosing not to point out that a kid had died over the summer which was a pretty big drama magnet.

Veronica turned her attention back onto Betty who seemed to still be in Archie-land, Veronica noticing this very quickly "you should ask him to the semi-formal"

Oh, Brandy very much liked the new girl.

"She should, but I heard it might be canceled" Kevin sighed slightly, put out at the news from his own mouth, at the raised eyebrows he got and looks of disbelief he added "because of what happened to Jason. They're gonna tell us at the assembly"

"WHAT?!" she blurted out quickly, horrified at this news, she wanted ten damn bucks. "i swear to god if Cheryl cancels this i'll refuse to join the cheerleading team AGAIN. God damn it…" she trailed off feeling a little bad "ok, if this wasn't about Jason i'd kill her"

"Who's Jason and what happened to him?" Veronica asked innocently, taking the matter as a mere joke that could be going around school, unknowing to how dark and upsetting the Jason incident really was. How could she know? She was only new, and a little part of Brandy envied that. All three of them stared blankly at Veronica, unsure of how to answer.

"Well.. um..." she began uncomfortably.

Riverdale might be small, but it certainly wasn't boring.

.

Brandy separated from the rest of them when they entered the moderately large sports hall that was already jam-packed, she scoped it out and soon saw the person she was looking for sulking by a column supporting the roof within the seating stands, nearly out of sight but not quite, typing away at his laptop with little interest to his surroundings.

She made her way over, rolling her eyes unintentionally at the podium set up for Cheryl to speak to them all by, she was already stood up there, the princess of Riverdale, in her princes absence. Plopping down in the seat besides Jughead she snagged his beanie and put it on her own head with a triumphant smirk.

Jughead startled and was prepared to run someone over with five trucks considering the fury building up in his eyes, but as soon as he saw her sitting all smug with his beanie on her head he simpered and just glared.

"Give it back"

"Make me" she tested him with a teasing smirk, resting her arms on her knees and head in her palms.

"You know, you're incredibly annoying" he told her, shutting his laptop lightly and putting it on the ground, giving her a done look which only made her grin widen significantly.

"I think what you were trying to say there is that i'm incredibly _adorable_ "

"More like hyperactive"

"Productive"

"High-maintenance"

"Cute"

"Thief" Jughead crossed his arms and gave her a challenging look, black locks of hair resembling a birds nest upon his head which obviously hadn't been brushed this morning.. so how did he pull it off so well?

In turn she to crossed her arms "Bestie" she retorted, missing just one beat for dramatic effect.

Jughead shook his head "Touche, bestie or not, girl or not, I will fight you for that beanie" he once again challenged, this time amping up the game to a different level.

"Come at me, Jones" she taunted him with determination and fire in her eyes, but before she could react Jughead practically jumped on her and grabbed her arms firmly in his hands so she couldn't use them. Yelping, she began wrestling him for freedom, unsuccessfully, until he's switched their positions so that she was pressed up against the column trapped, quickly she yielded. He smirked triumphantly and plucked the beanie from her head and readjusted it on his own.

Then she noticed how close he was, and her heart fluttered slightly making her cheeks tint pink. Eyes widening, Jughead shuffled back in realization and coughed awkwardly as she tried to unscramble her brain. That would have looked bad if anybody saw, thankfully nobody had as this part of the sports halls was fairly out of sight. It was how they'd both survived physical education so far…

 _what was THAT?_

Choosing not to indulge on whatever that _feeling_ was, she turned back to Jughead who was looking anywhere but at her, apparently his tatty worn shoes were very interesting. "so uh-um… I hear the semi-formal dance might be called off"

Jughead sprung back to life, well as much as he physically could being Jughead, he always looked slightly dead inside, which she related to. "does this mean I automatically win?"

"Don't be so hasty, Jones" she tutted as Cheryl got up onto the stage set up for her and patted the microphone to test it. Brandy inwardly groaned "here goes nothing I guess"

Cheryl first requested a moment of silence for Jason, to which they all obliged, and that minute lasted for an eternity in Brandy's mind, all she could think about was how strange the whole Jason ordeal was. Perhaps she'd just been watching far too much Sherlock over the summer, or perhaps she was right, something was fishy about this. Jason was a jock… how did he end up drowning? Did he hit his head as he went in? Did he get his foot caught on something whilst under? Something here just didn't add up, and the only girl who had any inclination as to the answer to the questions, was stationed in front of them all.

"Thank you for that moment of silence. Many of you were lucky enough to have known my brother personally" She began and already Brandy was pissed off, yeah, _lucky_ was not the term she would have used there… "each, and every one of you meant the world to Jason" Cheryll was looking at them all sympathetically, like it was them who had lost somebody not her.

Brandy's hands clenched into balls, Jason certainly hadn't considered her to mean the world to him, thats not the message she got anyway. Her anger was rising despite her trying to temper herself as images flashed back to her in waves only putting her more on edge. As if he heard her thoughts, Jughead grabbed her hand, snapping her from her thoughts, she didn't even need to look at him. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze which she smiled sadly at.

"I loved my brother, he was, and always will be, my soul mate" Cheryl continued on with her speech through Brandy's dormant temper.

At this though, Brandy's eyebrows rose, "twincest" she whispered out barely audible or without really thinking and Jughead shot her an almost shocked look but then was having trouble containing a snicker which was contagious and tipped her over the edge into a small giggling-hiccup type fit, so she slapped a hand over her lips firmly to stop herself from ruining this serious moment. The pair of them sat their in a state, her shaking and trying to suppress in-audible giggles whilst Jughead wore a smirk of amusement but kept shoving her sideways to try make her stop. Which really didn't help. If anything, it only worsened the matter. A few students close by turned their heads to look at what the commotion was, but only rolled their eyes and turned back. So for a few antagonizing moments this continued alongside the speech until she finally regained control, previous anger being long diminished by now.

"So I speak with the confidence only a twin could have, Jason wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning, Jason would want us to move on with our lives" Cheryl looked around at them all "which is why i've asked the school board not to cancel the back-to-school semi-formal" A series of applause rang through the hall at this as the students realized they could put on that dress they'd saved for about a month, "but to rather use it as a way to heal, collectively, and celebrate my brothers too, too short life on this mortal coil" she spoke and Brandy narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the girl, she didn't seem awfully upset about the death of her brother considering it hasn't been that long since he kicked the bucket and as she said they're apparently _soulmates_ "thank you, all"

Brandy had managed to pick out Archie in the crowd and almost, _almost_ overlooked him until she followed his gaze and saw it was on Miss Grundy… who was staring right back, blatantly ignoring the speech that everyone was now applauding. Hm, Archie what are you up to?

 _Stop being so damn suspicious of_ everyone.

Confidently she turned to her best friend, letting go of his hand and giving him a smug smile "10 bucks" she reminded him with a teasing tone but noticed he wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention and instead had his eyes burning holes through the back of Archie's bran-spanking-new jock jacket. She ran her fingers up the back of his neck making the other boy squirm under her touch and bat her away "you were staring" she shrugged at his accusation glare.

"Shut up" he mumbled, grabbing his laptop and standing up in a huff, she did the same preparing to go to English which she shared with Jug anyway so no need to rush. At least thats what she though…

Jughead took off like lightening, no doubt to avoid Archie who'd been making his way towards them. Brandy rolled her eyes and ran after him to catch up, mumbling something about making him pay for making her run. So the bromance drama continues…

what a surprise.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Annnnnd here begins the long and painful journey that unravels all the ugly secrets in Riverdale! All the ones you know, and all the ones you don't. mwahaha.**


	3. Branded

She lost Jughead after their English lesson due to them having separate lessons afterwards, so come lunch time she knew she probably had little chance of seeing him until a bit later since he hadn't turned up to sit with the squad, and in the squad was Archie, and both of her boys were being baby's about the situation. Honestly, why they couldn't just kiss and make up… _boys!_

So, she sat eating her smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich quite content whilst listening to some of Archibald's jams he'd worked on over the summer. Betty and Kevin were also sat on the opposite bench of the table which was outside in the courtyard where basically everybody ate lunch if it was warm enough out.

The music was actually pretty decent, which Brandy shouldn't have been so surprised about but she was because.. well because it was Archie! he'd never taken any lessons or anything and then he just blurts out this like he's a wannabe professional. Betty was batting her eyelids at the soon-to-be-famous-singer, smitten amazement in her eyes as she smiled reassuringly at him.

"Can I join?" came the voice of Veronica, snapping them all out from the trance the music had over them, eyes diverting to their new friend who stood as confident as ever holding a tray besides their table. It was somewhat heartwarming that after two hours at this school one of the prettiest girls Brandy had ever seen still wanted to be friends with her tour guide and the strange band of people that came with as a deluxe package. In honesty Brandy had thought Cheryl would have Veronica under her thumb by now, but then again, Veronica looked like she'd been the old Cheryl Blossom at her old school, not that she acted like a bitch, she just had that 'i'm-popular' vibe about her.

"Yeah" Betty nodded with a disheartened expression as Archie paused the music and shut his laptop quickly, ears tinged red at the top.

Brandy moved over until she was pressed into Archie's side so that Veronica could sit, placing the blue school cafeteria food tray on the table "oooh, you went for the pasta good choice. Seriously though, life advice from me about cafeteria food, do NOT get the panini's, chips, or anything that comes on a plate. Go packaging or go desserts; never let them give you a roast dinner and if you want good coffee bring some into school in a flask." she declared firmly, shuddering at her school food dinner mistakes in the past. Everyone around the table seemed to collectively agree with grim nods.

"I'll keep that in mind" Veronica sent her a thankful smirk as she got comfortable on the bench "so, what are we doing?" she asked next, dipping her head towards Archie who everyone seemed to be leaning towards due to the music volume being low incase bystanders heard.

"Listening to one of Archie's songs" Betty answered brightly, voice lifting a tone in pride.

"i thought we were going to have to pretend to like it, but it's actually really good" Kevin added impressed, making Archie beam in pride.

Brandy lightly punched her friends shoulder with a grin "not bad Redzee, for an amateur you're actually pretty good, maybe we could collab sometime" she suggested and he actually looked like he was going to cry with happiness at that.

"w-what?! Brandy- that would be so cool" he whooped out loud in response to her offer.

"wait, that was you singing something you wrote?" Veronica asked, staring down at the closed laptop, apparently she had heard it.

"it's rough" Archie replied modestly, too modestly, the guy should really give himself more credit. Even Simon Cowell would be impressed at Redzee's skills.

"No, it's great" Betty corrected for him.

"it's incredible actually, the little snippet I hear" Veronica praised shifting her glance to Brandy "and you sing too?"

"hm? Oh, no way I can't sing to save my life. I'm pretty wicked on the violin though" she informed the other girl with a proud, chin-up expression plastered over her. "grade seven.. going eight this next summer hopefully."

"that's amazing you must be so talented, you must let me hear you play at some point. Is that both of yours thing? Music? Are you doing something with that?" Veronica inquired them whilst leaning forward in her seat with interest.

"Maybe, I'm kind of into ballet and photography as well… so I dunno yet" she shrugged, taking a bite from her sandwich that was being severely neglected during this conversation. Her life course was a mess, she was way too indecisive to choose what to do with her life yet. Who wanted to do that anyway? Life was big and scary and full of surprises that she was not really ready to face yet.

"Well aren't you the creative one" Veronica teased slightly then turned to Archie "And you?"

"yeah, thats the plan" Archie nodded, ears now fully red making Brandy roll her eyes and continue munching. The boy cleared his throat then added "so, how's your first day going? Good?" he was quick to change the subject…

"not to be a complete narcissist… but I thought people would be more" Veronica started with a dramatic sigh.

"obsessed with you?" Kevin finished for her and she nodded, looking down at her lap with a confused smile that reminded Brandy of a puppy "any other year you'd be trending number one. This year though it's all about Cheryl trying to win the Best Supporting Psycho Oscar as Riverdale high's bereaved Red Widow"

Brandy snorted in amusement "Leonardo DiCaprio would be jealous" then her gaze drifted upwards and landed on no other than the 'bereaved Red Widow' who happened to be strutting towards their table with a sense of purpose about her.

Archie apparently also saw this and scrambled up looking uncomfortable "i should go. Meeting with Grundy, then football tryouts"

 _Grundy_

Brandy winced.

"you play football too? What don't you do?" Veronica remarked in a slight mocking tone.

"text back" Brandy jabbed subtly causing a few snickers and a glare from Archie, who was just about to shoot off, either because he was genuinely really late, or really did not want to get involved in the soon to happen interaction with Cheryl. To be fair.. she didn't blame him. He was gone a second later.

"Before you ask, Blue Jasmine, no, she has not invited him to the semi formal dance yet-" Kevin alerted them al but the end of his sentenced was muffled as Brandy waved her hands to tell him to shut up, seeing Cheryl was just in ear shot then all but shouted.

"stop talking about him!" just as the wicked bitch reached the table, sending her first a raised eyebrow that suggested Cheryl would indulge herself in Brandy's shouted sentence in the near by future.

"Veronica Lodge" Cheryl chirped in a sweet voice she saved especially for sucking up too people "i'd heard whisperings. i'm Cheryl Blossom. May I sit? Betty, would you mind?" Cheryl spoke expectantly, barley giving Betty a chance to slide over as she sat down, ending up facing Bandy. "So, what are you four hens gossiping about? And who might I ask is this _him_? Is it Archie and his Efron-esque emergence from the chrysalis of puberty? Do you like him? Thats cute." Cheryl was.. Cheryl had the nerve to direct that sentence to her.

"WHAT?! Do i- no way ew he's practically my brother, you psycho." Brandy blurted out after nearly choking on a mouthful of sandwich. "Definitely, do not, under any circumstances like Archie. Ever. Capeesh?"

"then what were you gossiping about?" Cheryl asked smoothly, the words coated in acid that made made Brandy glare at the red head and try to not throttle her.

"Extracurriculars." Veronica finally came to her rescue with a deadpanned expression "Weatherbee wants me to sign up for a few"

Cheryl's attention was immediately captured "Cheerleading. You must," oh, thats why the Blossom was here… "i am senior captain of the River Vixens." she stated proudly, drawing her hair over one shoulder.

"is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin asked perplexed.

"is being the gay best friend still a thing?" Cheryl countered swiftly "some people say it's retro. I say it's eternal and iconic"

"At Spence, I sat at the top of the elites' pyramid. I'm in." Veronica nodded with her always stationary smile, looking genuinely excited about this now. "Betty, Brandy, you're trying out too." she declared statically. Betty paled.

Cheryl looked physically pained but kept up a smile "of, course, anyone's welcome to try out, and Brandy is practically already on the team. But Betty's already got so much on her plate right now… and being a vixen is kind of a full-time thing, but open to all." Cheryl said then rose from her seat to leave, still staring at Veronica "follow me on twitter and i'll do the same. My handle's CherylBombshell" and then she was finally gone.

Brandy slammed her head against the table and groaned loudly "Betty you owe me big time!"

"Ok, go ahead and hate on cheerleading but if hipster Prince Harry-" Veronica began, directing her voice at a withering Betty.

"Oh, i'd love to be a cheerleader. It would look great on my college applications.. but last year when I tried out, Cheryl said I was too fat" Betty explained, fidgeting her hands on her lap awkwardly.

"'Too season five Betty Draper' it was a great line." Kevin marveled to Veronica then heard Betty scoff and went back on himself "but not at all true"

"i nearly knocked her teeth out for that" Brandy giggled childishly, sitting up in her seat again like it was something to be proud of. "But of course you and Redzee stopped me in time like you always do, but don't pay attention to Chernoble Possum"

"it wasn't that big a deal.. and you made it anyway so that was all that mattered" Betty shrugged, rubbing her arms nervously at the attention. That move always made Brandy want to hug her third bestie.

Veronica smirked "well, you're a total smoke show now, I mean it. As hot and as smart as you are you should be the queen Bey of this drab hive" Veronica pepped the less confident girl, and the other two sat back letting the new girl talk, wondering whether she'd kick-start Betty's confidence, "Look, if you wanna be a River Vixen, i'll help you prep. I have moves."

Betty shook her head with a disbelieving smile "okay, you know what? Show me your moves"

Veronica and Brandy had similar excited grins.

.

An hour later after much prepping they all flocked into the sports hall which had been cleared out from the morning assembly, the only thing still remaining was Cheryl who was currently sat with her two minions beside her; all wearing bitch faces and watching a girl dance for the tryouts. There was a small line waiting to try out for cheerleading which was relatively short since they were late and most had already tried out, however at the end was Mel who looked lost and a little nervous.

Brandy smiled brightly and ran over to her friend "Mel!" she called happily, skidding to a stop as her friend acknowledged her presence and squealed, pulling her into a hug.

"Brandy! I missed you so much over summer!" Mel exclaimed excitedly "Rome was so beautiful though! I managed to avoid my mother for the entire thing and meet a couple hot guys!"

She laughed at her friends buzz of happiness "i wish I could have been but I had no money! it's fine I had Juggie and Betzie to amuse me" she informed the other girl as Veronica and Betty caught up in the line "now tell me about these hot guys? Did you get any? Did you get me any?"

Mel snickered "oh, I got some. There was this really sweet beach boy called Zach who insisted on showing me how to surf and then later on he took my back to his place to show me some other moves on the board, if you know what I mean."

Brandy gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth which was morphed into a huge grin "Mel! You dirty little minx! How dare you not tell me this as soon as it happened! You had a phone, no excuses! i'm so darn proud of you"

"I didn't want my mother to pick up my phone and see the message, she would have totally flipped out!" Mel explained in response.

"And you're trying out for cheerleading? No way! I knew you had the balls to do it this year!"

Mel hushed her quickly "i'm only doing it to prove a point to my mom"

"oh?" Brandy smirked, intrigued "Mel the rebel"

"oh shush! She doesn't think I can dance but I literally take Ballet so I know what i'm doing" Mel scoffed, flipping ebony locks over her shoulder. It was true, Mel did do ballet, it was how they met, and saying Mel couldn't dance was like saying Vincent Van-Gogh couldn't paint.

"who's this?" Veronica asked nicely, pointing to the dark haired girl who was bouncing with nerves, as she always did before ballet competitions.

"Veronica this is Mel, Mel this is Veronica" Brandy introduced quickly, seeing the line get shorter "hang on you don't have a partner to dance with? Dang girl you're brave going out there alone in front of Cheryl"

Mel shyly looked over at the three judges, fidgeting with her sleeves "yeah… nobody wanted to partner up with me"

Brandy pouted in thought for a moment before turning to Betty and Veronica "would you guys mind? I mean I know we rehearsed together and all but… i'm sure you guys can do it without me, right?"

"of course, no problem" Veronica responded reassuringly, patting Mel on the shoulder who smiled gratefully "we got this, right Betty?"

"yeah, sure"

"great! But you guys haven't rehearsed anything?" Veronica questioned with a worrying tone.

"we've danced together before" Mel explained shortly, stepping forward as the line moved again. At this rate they would be done within the next ten minutes. Her and Mel's preformence would probably be fiiiiine.

"we're so in sync" Brandy grinned, wrapping an arm around Mel and then realizing her friend was a lot taller so took to hugging her around the middle. Mel laughed and hugged her back "seriously missed you so much, we need a girl night."

"i am totes up for that" Veronica exclaimed with excitement then simpered "only if it's an open invitation of course"

"definitely! We can get a take out from pop's" Brandy confirmed as everybody nodded their heads.

" _next"_ Cheryl's crystal voice ran out as two other girls ran crying from the hall, reassuring… not. Sucking in a deep breath she walked out in front of the three judges that reminded Brandy disturbingly of the three Fates from Hercules. Mel trailed after her, still fiddling with her sleeve, Mel was like that under pressure of try outs until she actually began dancing. Cheryl scanned them both "Glad to see you back, _Brandy_." she piped through gritted teeth then turned to Mel. "Mel, what a surprise, I didn't expect you to come."

Mel shrugged "worth a shot"

"Ladies, you may begin whenever" Cheryl clapped like a friggen queen ordering her servants about.

Taking in another long deep breath she shot Mel a prepared look which the other girl nodded at, then a dazzling smile broke out on her lips as she stepped forwards with her pom-poms in hand and opened her mouth " _Go team, go team! What do we mean?"_ she sang out gleefully, shaking her pom poms above her head to a beat going on inside her head, beginning up a dance. Mel copying so that their movements were almost identical.

" _We'll say it loud because we're proud"_ Mel took over as they continued dancing with their pom-poms, shaking them about ecstatically.

" _B-U-L-L-D-O-G-S"_ Both of them chanted together, they advanced, retreated, pirouetted, their arms waving from side to side above their heads, their heads swaying, their garments fluttering around their forms. " _Bulldogs bite! Bul_ _l_ _dogs bark!"_

" _We're stepping up so step aside"_ Brandy sang individually, once more grabbing the limelight in hers and Mel's beautiful dance and battle for superiority with their singing. Not an aggressive battle, they did this all the time when improvising. The dance was informal and not really to her liking, but her moves still were flawless to the eye of those watching. " _We're the best; we're here to win!"_

" _Bulldogs are barking here again!"_ Mel finished as they both jumped in the air with a cheer, wildly shaking their pom-poms as they landed and both laughing at the dance they'd just spontaneously produced.

Their enthusiasm simmered as their gazed fell back onto Cheryl who sat staring at the un-amused for several long antagonizing seconds, pen frozen in place on the notepad she held until finally she smiled a little "hm, energy, initiative, and fire. Congratulations ladies, you both made the cut, welcome to the River Vixens" she clapped her hands, the two minions at her side also clapping. Brandy whooped in delight and hugged Mel once more who was also laughing with success. Cheryl cleared her throat to catch their attention "own the title, ladies, and be here tomorrow for practice. No excuses. _Next"_

Still on a buzz from the dance she led the way towards the stands where she could watch Betty and Veronica's dance for the tryouts, Mel following, blabbering excitedly about how they could swoon over all the jocks now and maybe actually score one. Brandy wasn't really listening, concentrating more on her other friends, crossing her fingers but knowing they'd do well as she helped with the dance, it to was flawless.

Their dance was on point, their chanting amazing, although Betty could have stepped up a little out of her little shy bubble but that was overlooked mostly by Veronica's enthusiasm. Brandy was concerned about why Betty wasn't putting in 100% like she had in practice, but placed it on Cheryl Blossoms sharp gaze piercing through them, not looking remotely impressed. The dance was shorter than Mel and Brandy's so by the end Cheryl's face had not changed in the slightest.

"you know, if she keeps scowling like that the wind will change and it'll be permanent" Brandy muttered to Mel, trying to keep quiet so the Blossom girl wouldn't attack her verbally. Mel just snickered.

"hm, Ladies where's the heat! where's the sizzle?" Cheryl asked them expectantly, a disappointed expression painted over her face. Brandy gaped for a moment; how could Cheryl _not_ like that dance?

Veronica had her hands on her hip and shot a desperate look to a defeated Betty then acted on her own accord "Well, you haven't seen our big finish yet." the girl declared boldly, grabbing Betty's sleeve lightly and muttering something nobody else heard to the confused blonde, the pulled her into a long kiss. The whole room had people applauding the act with 'woes' and Brandy's eyebrows rocketed.

 _That wasn't in practice._

Cheryl's expression didn't even waver as the two pulled from the embrace "Check your sell-by date, ladies. Faux-lesbian kissing hasn't been taboo since 1994. So let's see if you do better with the interview portion of our audition" Cheryl told them, earning mass confusion around the room that nobody questioned. However they were all recognizing the unfairness that Cheryl had given no other contestants an interview. "Betty. How's your sister doing?"

Brandy felt her heart sink, all that glee dissolving in a nano-second, being replaced with a bubbling anger.

Betty who had been lightly touching her lipstick smeared lips responded "um, Polly's fine, thanks for asking" with confusion written on her features.

Cheryl quickly moved on "Veronica, has betty told you about her sister?"

Veronica exasperatedly folded her arms "uh, no" she admitted smoothly.

"Go ahead Betty, tell Veronica about your sister and my dear brother" Cheryl shot at the wilting Blonde who surprisingly hadn't bolted yet. Brandy felt her fists ball up and she rose from her position in the stand, mind set on rushing to her friends defense catching Cheryl's glance making the other smirk a little. Mel clasped and iron grip hold around Brandy's wrist.

" _Don't"_ the girl pleaded quietly.

"Polly and Jason dated" Betty supplied for Veronica quietly who seemingly didn't care at all but still deep down was pretty curious about the whole thing.

Cheryl scoffed deliberately from her throne, the two minions sat next to her smirking "i wouldn't say dated."

"it didn't end well" Betty trailed off. Looking downwards, making it harder and harder for Brandy to not go down there.

"in fact… Jason's probably why your sister had a nervous breakdown and now lives in a group home. Isn't it?" The bitch pressed, eyes sparkling with the influence she had over poor Betty.

"Thats what my parents think" Betty shrugged.

"what do you have to say about that, Betty?" Cheryl could be so patronizing when she knew she was in command of the situation, and Brandy wanted to knock that right off her stupid face before another word came past those painted red lips. "go ahead, the floor is yours, what ever you've been dying to spew about Jason and how he treated Polly, unleash it. Destroy me." Cheryl spat and Brandy saw Betty's hands curl up tightly which was what triggered her to rip her arm from Mel's grasp and start stomping down the stairs back to the ground.

"tear me a new one. Rip me to shreds. Annihilate me." Cheryl continued biting at Betty who looked borderline snapping, which she did, and Brandy didn't get there in time.

"i just.." Betty broke off Cheryl's tormenting words making the other girl give of a sigh of relief.

"finally"

Betty uncurled her fits and composed herself once more "i just wanted to say i'm sorry, about what happened to Jason. I cant even imagine what you and your family must be going through" she spoke sympathetically as Brandy rolled to her side with a murderous glare at the one alive twin, breathing unsteady with anger. Betty side glanced her and then worriedly shook her head for her to leave it whilst grabbing her arm. Brandy had a mean temper.

Cheryl crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow " _Right_." she spat then turned to Brandy with expectancy "something you want, _Brandy?"_

Betty squeezed her arm making her reconsider her next words, gulping back her anger "No." she responded acidicly, venom laced in the single word that rolled off her tongue.

Her and Cheryl had an interesting history, which stemmed from her and Jason's history. Let's just say she ended up in a bit of a cat-fight.

Cheryl glared at them for a moment then also composed herself with a smile. "Veronica. Welcome to the River Vixens. _Betty…_ better luck next time."

Well that just topped the cake, didn't it?

"Wait. What?" Veronica gaped in confusion.

"i swear to _god_ Cheryl-" Brandy began fuming but Betty stamped down hard on her foot making her curse out loud and stop mid-sentence to hop about, holding her foot in pain.

Veronica however, was having none of it "why? Because you couldn't bully Betty into being a bitch?" She snapped back with just as much force as Cheryl had.

"i need girls with fire on my squad" Cheryl bit back cockily, wiggling her head to the side in a mocking manner, a clear battle of dominance taking place between both girls.

Veronica rolled her eyes knowingly "i know what you need, Cheryl. Because I know who you are. You would rather have people fear than like you so you traffic in terror and intimidation. you're rich, so you've never been held accountable. But i'm _living proof…_ that certainty, that entitlement you wear on your head like a crown… it wont last. Eventually, there will be a reckoning." Veronica paused like something hit her, creating a smirk to blossom over her lips as she began walking slowly towards a sulking Cheryl "or maybe… that reckoning it now. And maybe that reckoning.. is me. Betty and I come as a matching _set._ You want one, you take us both. You wanted fire? Sorry Cheryl Bombshell, my speciality is ice."

.

"That was.. _awesome"_

Brandy had fangirled over Veronica standing up to Cheryl like that all the way to the changing rooms where they'd received their cheerleading outfits that they were supposed to change into. Mel had ditched them for a french lesson.

Veronica shrugged a smile "she was asking for it"

"you totally slayed! I cannot wait to tell Kev about this he's going to totally freak" she beamed as they entered the changing rooms that was already crowded with people changing. "and Betty that fricken hurt! You didn't have to abuse my foot."

Betty stared down at said injured foot which really didn't even hurt anymore "i'm sorry… it's just I didn't want you to go all brutal Brandy again"

"again?" Veronica asked with a raised eyebrow, looking the smaller girl up and down "Really? You? No offense of course, I just pictured you as the girly-couldn't-hurt-a-fly type in the group."

"Girly, yes. For the record I hate flies" she nodded without further explanation, dumping her stuff down on a bench by a cubicle she could change in, despite everybody changing freely with each other. They were all girls!

"Her and Cheryl had a run in last term" Betty informed the other girl who only seemed more interested, and surprised. "it got ugly, and long story short she broke Cheryl's nose."

Veronica gaped in shock "wow. I mean, good going girl. But why? You guys seem.. reasonably friendly now, and she lets you on the cheer squad." the new girl pointed out.

Brandy sighed "Why is did it was because she's Cheryl Blossom and went sticking her nose in something she shouldn't have. we're on semi good terms now because what happened was three years ago and my dad is one of the leading workers for them so my family and their family are supposed to be pretty good friends. Cheerleading is a result of a non-stop battle between us, I wont quit and she wont stop inviting me to try out because both of us have a pride bigger than we can handle." she explained, grabbing her clothes from her bag that she'd had since last year, knowing she'd make the team this year.

"oh" Veronica breathed out, processing the information "Well, now you wont have to put up with her alone as yours truly has joined the squad! Along with Betty and Mel, we will be your back up army." she winked as Brandy laughed and went to get changed in the cubicle.

She shut the door and stared down at herself with a deep sigh, Cheryl was not somebody she particularly liked or ever would like considering the way they treated one another. Some things you just couldn't move past, and what Cheryl did three years ago, had left a permanent mark on her brain. Jason however had left a permanent mark physically on her.

Slipping from her dress she refused to notice the pale scar that ran across her hip and down towards her thigh, it was a quite a laughable matter really, her, Brandon Montgomery had been _branded_ by Jason Blossom, and nobody knew, except maybe Cheryl Blossom.

Quickly she changed and shifted her attitude to something more perky, bouncing out to her friends and doing a twirl in the new cheerleader outfit, the familiar fabric flattering her body perfectly. She would so be making Jughead attend the next match so he could see her dance. Veronica was just zipping up the back of Betty's outfit, something Brandy could do herself after years of practice.

"you guys look great!" she clapped happily with a small squeal of happiness as Veronica and Betty laughed.

Veronica was still straightening Betty's outfit "Perfect." she declared "Very Betty Draper season one." she commented admiringly then turned to Brandy, her smile only growing "aren't you going to drop them all dead looking like that?"

"says you" she smirked, twirling a lock of her hair around one finger.

"Veronica" Betty murmured quietly in order for nobody else to hear them, pulling both girls to the side "why did-? Why did you defend me? Brandy I get, but I know the crowd you ran with in New York. Why are you being so nice?"

This time, Veronica looked down sadly with a kicked puppy expression that made Brandy want to force Betty to take that question back. The she smiled "Come on, it's practically the end of the day, lets go, i'll tell you on the way" she answered and strut ahead out the door, holding her bag close to her side.

Brandy and betty shared a slightly worried glance then trailed after her.

.

"When my father got arrested...it was the worst thing ever. All these troll started writing horrible things about us. We'd get letters and emails saying that my dad was a thief...my mom was a clueless socialite.. and that I was this spoiled, rich bitch, ice princess." Veronica began her story as they strolled as a trio across and around the football pitch where practice was currently commencing. "and what hurt the most about it was...the things the trolls were writing...were true. I was like Cheryl. I was worse than Cheryl. So when my mom said we were moving to Riverdale… I made a pact with myself. To use this as an opportunity to become maybe, hopefully...a better version of myself."

The whole school knew about Veronica's dad being in prison, but nobody knew this side to the story.

"wow, Ronnie. i'm so sorry" she said sympathetically, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly, to which the other girl sent her a grateful smile.

"Thats a lot of pressure" Betty commented as they walked and shared a look with Veronica deciding to let something else out the bag of trust "When Polly and Jason got together... it meant everything to her and nothing to him. And things got super intense and weird and toxic and my mom turned on Polly. Said Polly wasn't her daughter anymore and said all these awful things to her. Jason hurt Polly. But it's my mom who broke her" she informed them, and that was what Betty Cooper thought about the matter. Huh, not even Brandy had known that one. Fun Fact, Jason hurt a lot of people, not just Polly.

Veronica frowned, then looked up and saw Archie jogging in their general direction with some of the other jocks around him as they did laps, a scheming smile birthed on her lips as she called out "Archie!"

Betty looked taken back at the sudden change in tone "what?" she asked confused.

"Your so doing this" Veronica giggled giddily grabbing Betty's arms "slaying your dragons, Betty Cooper, one by one, back me up Brandy"

Brandy pouted in confusion as well for a good second before it hit her what was happening and she gasped, a hand flying to her mouth as she jumped up and down on the spot they'd stopped at with the same excitement radiating off veronica "yes! Finally! You have to!" Before more could be said Archie had jogged over to them and stood a few paced ahead holding his football helmet in hand, staring them up and down admiringly at their new gear.

Veronica straightened herself, holding her hands together in front of her "hi, Teen Outlander" she greeted him cooly.

"Hey, nice outfits" he complimented them, eyes lingering on Veronica a second longer than the rest of them.

"Aw shucks, thanks Redzee" she retorted with a grin, hands still at her face to hide it, making Archie raise his eyebrows at her with confusion for a moment but then return his attention to Veronica who continued the conversation.

"Betty here has something she wants to ask you about the back-to-school dance." Veronica stated boldly, Betty finally catching on and sending Veronica a tight lipped smile that was pleadingly begging the other for mercy.

"Something important" Brandy added with a giggle.

"go on, Betty. Ask." Veronica pushed with a proud smile.

Betty stiffly looked back at Archie and clasped her hands together "I was wondering if you wanted to come… with me and Veronica." she stumbled over her words as the sentence came out in one big mess.

"huh?"

"-what?"

"-aw!-wait-?"

They all said in union, Brandy and Veronica sending Betty the same 'wtf' turned expression in search of answers.

"it's your first dance at Riverdale. You should have someone to go with even if it's just a friend." Betty explained herself, more comfortable with the conversation now that she had her story in order.

Veronica instantly played along "i mean i'd love it" she shrugged in defeat.

Archie sent Brandy a confused look which she rose her shoulders as well at "hey, I'm not going to dance with you, you'd just trip me over" she added to the story, a bit perplexed as to why Betty did not include her. Maybe because it would be more difficult to convince Archie to go with three girls?

Archie shook his head slowly "No, i'm not really in the headspace for a dance" he rejected them without much thought, which must have stung.

Betty wilted "oh, thats okay.." she said sadly, casting her gaze downwards at the concrete ground.

Veronica jumped in to save the situation that was spiraling downhill faster than a bunny on crack "totally unacceptable, Archikins. We need and escort. Take a break from being a tortured musical genius and come spend a blissful evening with not one, but two newly minted River Vixens. We'll text you time and place."

Archie's smile grew as she spoke until a soft chuckle broke past his lips "heh. Okay" he consented in defeat. "yeah, okay. Bye." he said to them then jogged off still smiling to join his football squad again.

"Bye" Betty muttered shyly, biting her lower lip and looking to Veronica, the glee showing in her eyes.

Brandy coughed for their attention, crossing her arms "WHAT, was that Cooper?" she started with a high pitched tone.

"um… Archie?" Betty responded timidly.

"i was so close. so. Damn. Close. Do you know what you've done? Now I have to give Jughead 10 bucks. I hope your happy" she huffed in annoyance then shot Betty a glare "and you didn't even invite me to be Archie arm candy" she added.

"Sorry… I panicked" the girl admitted meekly.

"Clearly"

Veronica put her hands on her hips staring between them both "well, me and Betty have a date, who are you going with Brandy?" she asked the sulking girl.

"Myself" she joked which the two others chuckles lightly at.

"Seriously, who's got your eye, because it's definitely not Archiekins thats for sure" Veronica pressed as they started up their walk again. "any of those hot Jocks? What about that one over there" she asked, pointing to the one now running besides Archie.

" _Chuck?_ Definitely not. i'm a lone wolf, Ronnie. I fend for myself" she stated confidently, sticking her head up higher. There was no way she'd be caught with a Jock ever again.

Betty suddenly had a mischievous smirk that made Brandy frown some "are you sure about that? So, there's not a beanie wearing boy who your not totally into?"

Brandy choked on thin air and stopped dead in her tracks as air refused to help her out, Veronica patted her on the back until she could breathe properly again "oh really? And who might _he_ be exactly? Sounds like a total bad boy, is he the Danny to your Sandy?" she questioned with a delighted twinkle in her eye.

"Nobody! he's nobody! I do _not_ like him. No. There is no way I would ever be into him, even if you held me at gunpoint." she blurted out quickly and glared at the other two girls who had faces plastered in knowing smirks. "Look i'll just take Kevin to the dance, okay?!"

the other girls laughed and dropped the topic onto fashion which was a relief to Brandy, who was having trouble coping with her now hammering heart.

.

Once school was over she waved goodbye to the two other girls and lent against the lockers in the hallway waiting for Archie to finish football practice. They had a tradition that they'd give each other lifts sometimes when it worked to their parents benefit, or they were just too lazy to walk home. Which was today.

As she waited Jughead rounded the empty corridor, hauling his bag over his shoulder dramatically as he advanced towards the exit, spotting her lent against the lockers with her phone out. She met his gaze and smiled brightly, wiggling her fingers to greet the moody looking boy.

"Hey Jug," she said with a wide yawn, dang she was going to be too tired for this stupid dance now. Cheerleading took it out of her.

He stopped in front of her, looking her up and down bug-eyed and for a moment she forgot she was in her cheerleading outfit. "could you be more cliche?" he scraped the words of his tongue, shuffling awkwardly on the spot.

She twirled around, allowing her skirt to flare out into a bowl shape, showing of her hips partly which went unnoticed by her and then she slowed dizzily shooting him a lopsided grin as she steadied herself "i made the cheerleading squad! You are now speaking to an official River Vixen!"

"You make the team every year" he rolled his eyes at her as she continued jumping about in her new outfit. "anyway, i'm heading to pop's, wanna join?"

"Oh, no thanks. I'm going to Archies to get ready for the dance tonight." she informed him, leaning back against the locker on one shoulder.

Jughead looked like he'd eaten something sour "Archie is taking you to the dance?"

"No, he's got enough girls to go with" she snorted "Betty and Veronica" she supplied Jughead who looked mildly confused for a moment. Suddenly she remembered the bet and a massive smile spread across her lips again " _Jughead jones_ you owe me 10 bucks"

"Do I? If I recall correctly the bet was that Betty would ask Archie to the dance, so why is Veronica going with him as well?" he retorted, the sour look dissolving as he raised a cocky eyebrow at her.

"B-because… because Veronica needs an escort?" she tried pretty pathetically.

"Brandon, _you_ owe _me_ 10 bucks." he corrected proudly.

She groaned and hit her head against the locker " _fine_. You have to give me credit for trying though." Brandy felt her heart flutter as he said her full name, when she looked back at him she decided to move along from the bet "You should come too it might be fun" she pressed carefully, knowing the answer already. The doubt was already being scribbled over his face.

"yeah, no. Dances aren't my thing" He responded without even considering it.

"please? Pretty please? You might even enjoy yourself." She pleaded with puppy dog eyes that she knew were irresistible to most. _MOST._

Jughead looked uncomfortable for a moment as an inner battle commenced inside of his brain, a gamble taking place on whether he would accept or decline. "Sure, but only after my funeral, before the cremation of course, i'm not that mean" he snarked her with a sarcastic grin "why, do you not have a date?"

Her cheeks tinted pink "of course I have a date! Psh- in fact like seven guys have asked me, so like, i'm going with one of them, obviously. Why wouldn't I be?" she babbled out quickly.

Jughead rose his eyebrows slowly "Right. Have fun with that. Catch you later" he said then patted her on the shoulder and left. She let out a long breath and let her head fall back against the lockers.

 _What the hell was that?_

Since when was she _nervous_ around Juggie?

Archie arrived five minutes later and they both went back to his house in good spirits, she was a little disheartened that Jughead wasn't going to the dance but decided to ignore that and concentrate on getting ready.

She grabbed some things from her house and brought them over to Archies, helping him pick out a suit to wear as he talked to her all about his dilemma with football and music. She was already dressed for the dance in a knee length, red, strapless, mermaid dress that fitted her perfectly. A diamond necklace was handing from her neck, a gift form her grandmother on a brief visit two christmases ago, and a pair of 3 inch white heels to go with the dress. Her hair had been curled, and she let it cascade down past her shoulders freely, only adding a small flower clip to pin some locks from her face.

"So your dad caught you out on your lie then?" she grimaced, adjusting his black bowtie, whilst she'd been grabbing her clothes Archie and his dad had an argument. "Redzee, you should have just told him! I knew it was true that redheads have fiery tempers" she shot him a quick smirk which he lightly punched her for as she finished her work and stood back to admire it. Archie did look fairly dashing in a suit.

"i didn't think he'd get it, I thought he was hell bent on me taking over the company after college! How could I tell him that I wanted to ditch all of that to write music?" Archie defended himself, plopping down on the bed and checking the time on his phone.

"Archiekins" she groaned, shoving her face into her hands "he's your dad! He would have understood if you just told him, and he's right, you need to be confident enough in what you want to do that you can talk about it"

"Says you, Brandy you don't even know what you want to be yet" Archie teased her lightly.

She scrunched her face up "Because deciding what to be is the first step on the long daunting road to adulthood which i'm not prepared to take yet." she retorted, sitting down besides him, pausing for a moment deciding what her next words would be. "hey, you know you could have talked to me about this? Instead of living in two different worlds. Im always here for you, you know that right?"

Archie smiled at her and draped an arm around her shoulder to pull her into a hug "yeah, I know, Dee. I know"

She wriggled out of the embrace "so, theres nothing else? No secrets your keeping locked up in that carrot head of yours?"

He deadpanned her "nothing that comes to mind"

 _liar._

"Okay, well come on then we better head off, I have to be with Kevin in ten minutes to go to the dance and you have two lovely ladies awaiting your arrival at Veronicas; don't tell me you don't ever score." she prodded his stomach as they both stood up again to leave.

Archie nodded in agreement "trust me, I have no idea how it happened"

"Oh, me neither, buddy, me neither" she breathed out.


	4. Devil's Dance Floor

Twenty minutes later she'd rolled up to the dance with Kevin, loud music blaring out from the speakers attached in each corner of the hall, multi-colored light beams bounced around the room and there were about 50 banners of Jason's face hung up, even one that stretched from the ceiling to the ground. Talk about over kill much. However, the good vibes flowed through like a virus, everyone was feeding off the smiles and fast dancing.

Brandy laughed and pulled Kevin into the dance floor having not seen the rest of their other friends yet, beginning to move her feet to the crazy beat like they belonged to the music. She adored dancing, even if it was just ridiculous dancing like this where everyone adopts a carefree attitude. Kevin swayed beside her, shaking his arms about skillfully, shooting winks at all the guys who checked him out. Brandy just shook her head and ran her hands through her hair, swaying her hips and smirking at the attention it got from the guys surrounding Cheryl Blossom, the other girl glaring hard at Brandy. It was ironic that they both wore red.

Childishly, she stuck her tongue out at the girl and got swept away into the masses of people dancing, somehow loosing Kevin as she looked back to the spot she last saw him in. With a disappointed whine she felt a bit lost but kept going until Veronica swept in to save her.

"Hey girl!" the cheery rich girl chirped, beginning to dance in a similar sensual manor. "Really busting them moves!"

"Thanks!" she shouted back over the sound of the music, curse her small voice. "Where's Archie and Betty?"

"Not sure, I lost them after I left to get punch" she smirked knowingly and lowered her tone "so Betty could work some of that Cooper magic on poor Archikins"

Brandy squealed in delight "OMG where are they I have to be a witness!" at this though, the music abruptly cut off and Cheryl tapped on the microphone that had been set up on the stage. "ugh" she groaned a little to loudly at the interruption to her dancing.

If anything could be a buzz kill, it was Cheryl Blossom.

"good evening" Cheryl began with a smile once the room had quieted down "As honorary chairperson and de facto queen on tonights semi-formal, it is my pleasure to introduce this evenings main entertainment. To know them is to be obsessed with them. Though they usually preform their own material tonight they're making an exception and debuting a cover of the song my parents claimed they listened to the night Jason and I were conceived. This one's for you, JJ." she spoke out with a dazzling toothy smile that gave off no remorse for her dead brother.

"Thats just slightly weird" Brandy whispered to Veronica who giggled in response.

"Not what I would have told the rest of the school but each for their own" Veronica whispered back.

"I give you Josie and the Pussycats" Cheryl announced boldly as the band ran out waving to the cheering crowd, beginning to play immediately as Cheryl exited the stage.

"huh." Brandy nodded to the music choice "not a bad song to be played whilst being conceived I guess, but it's still kind of gross to think about and that song may now be ruined for me forever" she grimaced somewhat, sliding off the dance floor with Veronica knowing that this was more of a couple dance.

However, the two spotted Betty and Archie dancing together, Betty's arms attached around his neck and his around her waist as they swayed to the song. Shooting each other triumphant looks, Veronica and Brandy bounded back onto the dance floor, grabbing Kevin and Mel in the process so they had dancing partners who would also witness. Veronica began dancing with Kevin as Brandy tactically dragged Mel a bit further away so it was less obvious that they were all staring at the two.

"Hey- what- _Brandy_ why are we dancing together? This is the couple dance!" Mel bleated in confusion as they got a few looks casted in their direction as others jumped to conclusions.

" _Just dance_ " she ordered sharply, wrapping her arms around Mel's neck quickly, not taking her gaze from Barchie. "and look just below the stage at Redzee and Betzee. No- not like that- stop it you're being to obvious- just look without looking"

"How am I supposed to do that braniac?" Mel retorted sarcastically then jerked her head sideways to see, going bug-eyed in the process "its actually happening! Is she going to ask him?! the girl freaked out trying to be quiet so they wouldn't ruin the big moment for the cutest soon to be couple in Riverdale.

"i hope so!" she replied eagerly, sending Betty a thumbs up sign when the girl looked nervously over her shoulder at the watching group. Then towards the end of the song something happened, they spoke for a while, then Betty pulled back and Archie looked away awkwardly.

Brandy's heart sank as she followed his gaze over to Grundy. _Why does he keep looking at Grundy like that? What is with him lately? Betty just took a leap of faith and he's … you know what forget it. It's probably absolutely nothing._

Then the song faded towards the end sending the room into uproar, the two best friends clapping awkwardly besides one another, staring straight down at their feet; faces said everything. Archie had rejected her.

"oh no..." Brandy whispered, letting go of Mel and casting a worried look over to Veronica as they re-grouped.

Kevin cleared his throat awkwardly "Well that that sure but a bullet hole in the OTP of the whole school. I absolutely must know what happened, they have to go to the Blossoms after party." he said decidedly

"you guys should, totally like come too" A voice behind them said and they all turned to see Cheryl's two minions stood with their hands on their hips, chewing gum in sink. Tina and Ginger. Tweedledee and Tweedledum more like. "you're like, invited"

Ginger was typing away on her phone rapidly without really bothering to spare them a glance, but piped up saying " yeah, its gonna be totes amazing"

"I'll go" Kevin immediately said, sending Moose a longing look, the jock who had just passed by them. Brandy narrowed her eyes. Was EVERYONE getting with a jock?

"Me too!" Mel nodded enthusiastically, staring at Chuck. _Really?_

"A party sounds fun" Veronica agreed easily.

Then all eyes fell on Brandy who folded her arms "no thanks, I'm not really up for it. Im super tired."

Tina blinked like she had just grown another head. "um, like this is a Blossom party. You like have to go."

"i have better places to be than at the Blossom resident." she snarked back, getting irritated. Honestly the last place she wanted to be was at Thornhill right now… she could see enough of Jason as it was, and he's friggen dead.

"Fine, whatever" Tina scoffed and the two stormed off back towards where Cheryl was sanding amongst a flock of people. Likely they were reporting back to their queen. Peasants.

Brandy rolled her eyes and turned to the rest of them "see you later guys, tell me what happens between Barchie, and don't spare any details" she requested and then bid them goodnight which was followed by a chorus of 'goodbyes' from everyone.

As she approached the door completely ready to leave the now stuffy, sweaty, kinda gross school building, Cheryl had somehow beat her there and slid in front of the door to block her way with an evil smile resting cockily upon her lips.

"Leaving so soon? My girls tell me your not attending my party. Everyone attends a Blossom party. What makes you so special Brandon?" the fire queen spat, placing a delicate hand placed on her poked out hip that just outright radiated bitchiness.

Brandy gave the girl the biggest ' _really?'_ expression she could muster up "The fact that i'm not an idiot and don't want to play whatever sick, twisted, little game you have installed in your mind for everyone"

"hm, its just a bit of fun. No stings attached. Live a little. A blossom party wouldn't be whole without a little Montgomery around" Cheryl responded cooly, once again pushing a button form the past.

"Do you have a problem with me Cheryl? Some agenda worked up against me in your head? Please, spill, i'm right here" Brandy smiled innocently "tear me a new one. Rip me to shreds." she lent froward slowly "Annihilate me." Cheryl's eye twitched and her expression wavered as a moment passed between them "Didn't think so, now move" she ordered, pushing past the girl and opening the school door that led to the carpark, aka her freedom from this entire slightly traumatizing situation.

Cheryl's hand shot out like a spark of electricity and cold fingers dug into her arm tightly making Brandy stumble over her feet to a sharp stop. The redhead was significantly taller and probably a lot stronger than Brandy was. "Do not test me, your playing a dangerous game that your not going to win. It's not my fault you slept with my brother and now your mad."

Brandy's face exploded into red fury "Theres a little word called consent, look it up in the dictionary because your psycho brother didn't know what it meant" she snapped back.

"Always the little tell tale. My brother is _dead_ and you still have the nerve to say that to me. Well _Chucky,_ think again I wont let you drag my brothers name through the dirt like that. Like Polly did" Cheryl jeered fiercely, tightening her grip "oh wait, I forgot, we made a promise to not say anything about that night to anybody. Else i'll tell my daddy and he'll get super mad and get angry with your daddy." she mockingly stuck her lip out into a pout. "Maybe even angry enough to fire him. Times like these, you need to have trust with who you work with."

Brandy glared daggers at the girl, resisting the urge to punch her teeth out by flexing her fingers over and over again "Twist the tale into whatever the hell you want Cheryl, you know what really happened. i've not said anything for three years. If your going to try use it now as something to bully me into going to this dumb party then you're going to be profoundly disappointed. Now let go of my arm before I break yours." she growled and both girls held each others glare for a further minute of silence until a car pulled up into the carpark ahead of them. Cheryl threw Brandy's arms away with a scoff, snatching her own back in one swift motion like Brandy was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of the table that your finger accidentally touches. "And Chucky was ginger" she snarled before storming off down through the carpark.

Not bothering to look back at the sure to be fuming redhead, Brandy continued onwards angrily until she had walked a good distance from the school and her temper had simmered down some. She still wanted to kick a trash can or something but the biting chill in the air reminded her that she'd left her jacket at the dance. Figures. The twilight had faded into blackness, burning away the drabness of the day, and the roads ahead eerily loomed into pitch black like a tunnel of darkness. Feeling shivers run down her spine she decided to change her course making a swift turn left on a cross road and heading directly to Pop's which was just around the corner. Her house wasn't much further but she didn't want to go home yet, it was only 9:00 and her time limit was ten anyway. Plus the dark was giving her the heeby jeebies.

WHAT? There were… shadows that looked like they might actually eat her.

Her mind was swirling with hatred for the Blossom princess, truly hating the bitch. How could somebody be so cruel. She remembered what happened clear as daylight. Cheryl hadn't been there for all of it, she came after, and heard Jason's side of the story. Brandy however had the scars to prove his story wrong. To prove he was nothing but a liar. Dirt. A scumbag. But no. She wouldn't, for the sake of keeping the peace between their families and ensuring her father kept his job, she would keep her mouth screwed shut.

Pop's was a welcoming sight, a train whizzing past behind the well-lit, small restaurant that had the buzzing sound of vents and flickering lightbulbs that filled the almost deadly silent night that not even the wind dared interrupt. She picked up her pace and marched inside to escape the chasing cold, shivering as she entered and gazing over to the usual booth she sat in, finding Jughead sat in it with his laptop out. Cocking her head to the side wondering why he was here so late she advanced over and stood by the table, clutching her bare arms which were coated in goosebumps. Many of the men in the room turned their heads to watch her walk past which she ignored as it only added to her current anxiety. Jughead glanced upwards then gaped at her, once again looking her up and down with wide eyes.

"God, Brandy aren't you freezing in that thing?" he asked disapprovingly, expression morphing from admire to worry at the sight of her face and lack of warm clothing.

That was all it took, the concerned eyes of Jughead made her own cloud momentarily before she blinked the tears back forcefully, collapsing in the chair besides him with a small sniffle. Jughead froze for a moment.

"Yes" she replied quietly, resting her arms on the table, then her head on her ams. For a moment a silence rested over them before the sound of shuffling, then something warm was draped over her trembling shoulders. She peered up through her rebellious strands of hair and saw that Jughead had removed his jacket.

He sent her a small, unsure smile "So i'm guessing the dance was a bust?" he asked her carefully and casually. Jughead was experienced with all of Brandy's moods and knew how to cope with all of them by now. However she was fully aware he wasn't the best when it came to comforting other human beings since he generally strived to drive other lifeforms away with his whole angsty teen get up and sardonic sense of humour.

She scoffed with a blank face "you could say that. Archie rejected Betty and Cheryl attacked me." she informed the other boy dully as if she were updating him on the weather.

Jughead tensed up "She what?"

"Attacked me. Verbally. About a dumb party" She mumbled into her arms "I wouldn't go to her after party and she brought up J-Jason. Threatened my dad. And called me Chucky" She explained briefly, her mood still sour.

The other boy gaped for a second "i still think you should tell your dad what really happened that night" Jughead had a frown plastering his face now.

"I can't… I don't want him to know. What if he sues the Blossoms? You know they'd just come at my family after all the drama has drifted past and attack us again. It's what they do. Besides, he's dead now." she scrapped out bitterly.

Jughead sighed and shook his head "well, if theres one way to solve a problem, it's milkshakes" he said as the waiter cam over, and then ordered one chocolate milkshake and one cupcake with whipped cream and a cherry on top. "Hey, chin up. Cheryl Blossom is just a spoilt rich girl who can't differentiate actual friends from popularity."

Brandy smiled stiffly, gazing up at the beanie wearing dork "Thanks, jug." she then slipped her arms into his jacket which was at least ten sizes to big on her but kept her warm none the less. Their milkshakes arrives shortly and they began sipping on them. "What are you working on? Is it your novel?" she pressed with a more enthusiastic attitude.

"Yes, and no you can't read it yet, before you ask." he answered, going back typing with a scowl that was actually just his concentration face by made him look mad at the world for no apparent reason. He looked odd without a jacket. She ended up staring at his arms for a second to long. She always saw him with his jacket on, even in summer because he was strange like that. His arms were.. surprisingly muscly.

"I wasn't going to" she responded, sipping more of her chocolate milkshake which had done wonders for her mood. "but I will demand you let me read it once you've finished it. i'll fight you."

"You'll lose." he responded, still typing. "but, when I have finished you may read it." She whooped quietly, not having as much energy as she usually did. Jughead picked up on this and stopped typing again. "How's Betty?"

"Dunno, I lost her before I left. Probably not good, all things considered." she answered, getting out her phone and sending her blonde friend a message.

 _ **Dee: hey u ok? Srry I missed the party- any good? :(**_

Now it was up to the waiting game for the other girl to respond, which she did within five minutes.

 _ **B: Fine. Went home.**_

Brandy sighed tiredly, running a hand through her brown locks and thinking over what they could do to fix this. Things weren't going to be the same between Archie and Betty for a long while now. She was also quick to notice Jughead did not ask about Archies wellbeing. Great, just more drifts in friendships. She'll just be the middle ground then with Veronica and Kevin. No mans land was a great place to be.

About two milkshakes later, the man of the night himself hurried into the restaurant, going over to the counter and quietly asking Pop's about Betty's whereabouts which obviously wasn't here. Brandy tensed as he saw their table and looked at his feet before timidly approaching. Jughead also spotted the ginger boy and scowled grumpily, crossing his arms onto the table in a sulky manor so she kicked his leg to make him sort out his attitude. He kicked her back.

Archie stopped in front of them "uh, can I sit guys?" he asked carefully, Brandy's eyes fixed onto his tie and disheveled suit. Oh god… Betty went home, so what on earth has Archibald been doing? Did he really go to look for Betty at Pop's at this time of night before checking her actual house?

Jughead thinned his lips "if you want" he offered with a challenging gaze. Archie accepted that as a win and sat down opposite them both.

Archie noticed the laptop was out "What are you working on?" he asked conversationally seeing as nobody else was going to take the lead on it.

"My novel" Jughead responded bluntly then went back on himself and added "it's about this summer, and Jason Blossom." - Brandy was some damn proud of her Juggie in that moment for being arguably nice to Archie and telling him about his slightly creepy little project on a dead kid in town!

Redzee leaned forwards "Seventeen years old, and how will be be remembered? As captain of the water polo team?" he exasperated, and all the talk of Jason began putting the dampener on her mood again.

"The aquaholics? Considering how he died, probably not." Jughead continued bitterly.

Archie bit his lip "no, what I mean is.. was he doing everything he was supposed to do? Everything he wanted. I mean, did he even know what that was?"

"Do you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow recalling the chat her and Archie had earlier. Then she recalled something else. "hey, don't you guys find it.. I don't know, weird, how Jason died? You said it yourself, he was captain of the water polo team so he could swim pretty well, if Cheryl made it to the shore, how did _he_ not make it..." she pondered out loud.

"What are you saying?" Jughead cocked his head to the side.

"Just… this whole things is.. I don't know, fishy." she explained with a frown, trying to find the right words then smirking "no pun intended"

"Well, what else could have happened" Archie challenged with his eyebrows knitted together.

"Do I look like a fortune teller? I just think it's weird how Cheryl is acting so calm and smiling like nothing has happened whilst banging on about how Jason was her soulmate and whatnot."

"Some people go into shock, Brandy" Archie expressed heavily which put a stop to that conversation as they fell into silence. "Besides, Jason could have hit his head on his way into the water or anything like that. You need to stop watching Criminal Minds."

Tapping her foot against the ground nervously, she fished the cherry out from Jughead's empty milkshake glass with a long spoon and plopped it in her mouth making the other boy flick her on the arm in annoyance.

"Coach Clayton was in here talking to Pop Tate. Varsity." Jughead began wistfully, choosing to ignore her smug smirk as she chewed the cherry. "Does that make you, what, Mr. Popular-Football-God now?"

"No." He replied sadly with a shake of his head "In fact, i'm kind of terrified I lost my best friend tonight." Archie mumbled out.

 _Oh no. it was bad then._

"If you mean Betty, just talk to her, man. It would go a long way" Jughead said, leaning forward to share this piece of advice with a soft tone that made Brandy beam with more pride at her boys getting along so well. Then like somebody flicked a switch his expression darkened once more "would've gone a long way with me." he added with forlorn, leaning back to sulk in his seat.

Brandy rolled her eyes, mimicking the movement with her head as the boys held a deep and meaningful gaze "man up, both of you" she mumbled and fixed her gaze on Archie "Betty went home, in case you were wondering. You better make it up to her or ill churn your insides into mush." she threatened with an innocent smile.

Archie frowned and stood up ashamed "Noted.. and well, thanks." he nodded to them both "Brandy, want me to walk you home? it's dark out and.. you know. With Jason and all, Can't be too careful." he offered kindly.

She glanced to Jughead who had steeled his emotions and nodded that he was cool with it which she smiled at and stood, beginning to walk out from Pop's with Archie, then remembering something.

"oh, Juggie, your jacket" she said, rushing back whilst reluctantly taking it off, having enjoyed the comfort it had provided.

He stared at her and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards "Keep it. Only for tonight. I mean, if you catch a cold it'll only be me you complain to." he justified himself, gesturing towards the jacket with his hand carelessly.

She gratefully clutched the jacket tighter, putting it back on so she was all snugly and warm again, taking in the aroma of crisp earthy spices, with a hint of the masculine deodorant, that was Jughead. Then of course the lingering smell of Pop's burgers that was faint but still there. It was comforting in a way. "Thanks, Juggie. For everything"

At this his dipped his head down to hide his now widening smile "Go on, get out of here before I change my mind" he dismissed her as she giggled and remembered to buy a donut for her dad then ran after Archie who was waiting outside for her, tapping his foot impatiently.

Maybe the day hadn't ended too badly after all.

.

A good ending to a day, from her experience, often leads to a bad start to the morning. And the next morning, all anybody was talking about was the body of Jason Blossom being found at last; the retched family could now mourn properly, but not yet in peace.

The body of Jason Blossom washed up at the creek, waterlogged and rotting, a bullet sized hole gaping in the centre of his forehead.

It was no longer being treated as an accident, but a murder investigation.

With the rate things were going in this town, anybody could be the killer. Jughead had a new motive for his novel which had all of a sudden become so much more interesting.

Everybody had their own theories.

Was it Kevin or Moose? The two boys who found the body in the woods during the dead of night.

Or maybe it was a South Serpent, everybody knows they're the most likely to do something so horrid.

Perhaps a Cooper was responsible? Everybody knows the tension between the Blossoms and the Coopers.

Or, to be a real plot twister, maybe it was the Blossom princess herself, the last known person to see Jason alive before he went ten feet under.

This was certainly going to be one hell of a school semester…

.

"Brandy!" A voice squealed ecstatically, followed by a small boy with brunette spidery hair barging into her room at full speed just as she was trying to prepare her make up look for school.

The first week of the semester had flown by quickly so that they were now on the second, and the tension between her friendship group had reached a critical level over the weekend. However, it was now Monday which meant a new beginning, so Brandy was determined to help fix things this week, whether her friends were willing to oblige or not. They were a team. So whether they liked it or not, she was going to do something.

She swirled around on her stood in front of her vanity table to meet the eyes of her younger brother of whom she all but pounced on, wrapping him into a tight hug "Teddy! you're here!"

"Mommy dropped me off extra early so I could walk with you to school!" he laughed into her shoulder, arms gripping around her tightly. Teddy wasn't exactly her full brother, more of a step-brother of whom she loved very dearly. Her dad met this chick five years ago and they got on really well.. but it wasn't meant to be, then she got pregnant and things kind of spiraled down for a while. But, they're friends now and both got to keep custody of little Teddy which was a huge relief to Brandy who made a pact that she'd be the best big sister ever to the kid.

"Does dad know your here?" She asked, plopping the kid down onto her bed where he swung his legs back and forth, a dinosaur backpack still hanging off his back no doubt packed with school essentials for a five year old. Teddy went to the Riverdale primary school just down the road from Riverdale high.

"Yep" the boy beamed happily, softly popping the 'p'. "He said that theres some pancakes to eat from breakfast."

"oh, my god, i'm actually starving. I'll be down in a sec, just finishing off my make up" she told him, sitting down my her vanity table and re-assessing her look that was reflected in the Hollywood Mirror she owed that hung just above the table, shinning bright lights to illuminate her.

"Can I wait up here with you?" the boy asked hopefully.

"Sure thing, come on then tell me about how schools been, I haven't seen you for like a whole week." she questioned lightly, putting on some blusher as she did.

Teddy scrunched his nose up at the mention of school "Mrs Hudson says we'll be doing lots and lots of reading and writing this year which is boooring. I already knows how to do that." he complained.

"Ah, but you can't read and write like and the big boys and girls yet. Still a work in progress, Teddy. Besides, you can tell Jughead all about the things you're reading, you know he's a massive dork who loves books and all that jazz" she offered to make the school year seem more appealing.

The boy giggled excitedly, rolling backwards on the bed to stare up at the ceiling "Is Juggie coming to school with us today? I wanna show him my new game mommy got me on the nintendo. Its Mario Kart and its so fun- Harry and Frankie also have it and we play on it all the time, maybe Juggie can play too." he babbled on.

"Hm, dunno sorry. Doubt it since I haven't heard anything from him- oh I do need to give him back his jacket though, thanks for reminding me. He's been nagging me about it since that dance last week" she said and got up to grab the dark leather jacket hung on the door coat peg. "i'll ask him to walk home with us or to school tomorrow if you'd like?"

"yeah!"

"Great, now come on then little dude before you're late and miss out on all your reading that I know your going to love" she smirked, lifting him off the bed and spinning him around onto the ground, making him squeal in delight.

"Will not!" he objected, sticking his tongue out at her and then bolting towards the door "Race you downstairs" he called over his shoulder.

She shook her head and ran after him "you're on!" she shouted back, deliberately slowing her pace so that the younger boy was able to reach the kitchen, where she came up behind him and captured him once more into her grasp, tickling his sides to make him laugh.

Over Teddy's laughter and pleas for mercy, their dad walked in carrying a steaming mug of coffee, smiling fondly at his two children who'd been reunited after a week. "Hey you two, eat up before the pancakes get cold" he gestures to two empty plates and another with a huge stack of pancakes on the kitchen table, maple syrup, strawberries, lemon and sugar also present to be added.

The two of them scrambled over to the table and sat down to eat, Brandy herself grabbing two pancakes, putting lemon over one then sugar and strawberries on the other. She avoided the maple syrup like the plague. Teddy also grabbed two and all but drowned them in maple syrup, grinning ear to ear as he tucked in. their little family was finally all together again, she loved it when their week with Teddy rolled along as his mom, Rachel, was very strict about having him all to herself on her weeks so she never really saw him throughout their duration.

"So, how are we feeling about hitting Pop's after school tomorrow to grab us some dinner then watching whatever movie you guys want" he dad offered, sliding into a chair besides teddy to prepare his own breakfast.

"mmm, how about tonight? Theres the big game on tomorrow in school and i'm a cheerleader so I kinda have to be there" she explained, pouring some coffee from the jug into a mug she'd fetched herself.

"oh, well, we can come watch if you'd like then get something to bite after" her dad suggested "bring along some of your friends maybe"

her stomach flipped "i dunno… everybody's kinda annoyed with each other right now so keeping them all in once place might be difficult." she brushed the idea away, mind still pondering how she was going to ensure Barchie became friends again… or maybe like friends with benefits if she was lucky "Plus I cant ask Teddy to wait until 8 for some food" Brandy further justified seeing the younger boy frown at the thought of missing the scheduled dinner time.

"Braaaaandy do you have to do cheerleading?" Teddy whined exasperatedly, poking his pancake irritatedly like it was the cause of his problem.

"Yeeeeeees I do" she responded with the same tone. "if I don't Cheryl will by biting all up my ass-" her dad shot her a look "assssistant. My assistant, Archie." she coughed awkwardly "yeah." her dad shot her another very stern look which she smiled innocently in, Teddy giggling knowingly.

"Ah, well, i'm working tonight but I suppose me and Ted will make something for ourselves tomorrow then see you around 8 or 9? We can start the movie without you then whenever you get back just jump in?" he offered.

"Sure" she shrugged, half way through her second pancake.

" Oh! Oh! Can I pick, can I pick!" Teddy screeched, waving his fork around excitedly and bouncing in his chair.

"Sure, bud"

"Can we watch Cinderella?!" Teddy asked with puppy dog eyes, her dad choked on his pancake which initially Brandy had thought was because he was actually choking, but then realized he was laughing.

She also snickered, knowing her dad hated cartoons most of the time "Cinderella?"

"Yep" the boy nodded, drinking some of the milk in his glass "Theres a girl in my class who's favorite film in Cinderella and she says she has glass shoes just like Cinderella but that silly because you cant wear glass shoes they'd just break!" he babbled on around another mouthful of pancake.

"Oh really?" Her dad asked with raised eyebrows "and who might this girl be?"

"Libby Mantle" the younger supplied innocently, not really catching onto what the two older ones were theorizing.

This time Brandy choked on her pancake in shock. Once she'd stopped she stared with wide eyes "Libby Mantle? As in Reggie Mantles younger sister?"

"uh, yeah I think so."

"Aw jeez" she mumbled, rubbing her face in sudden aversion to the small friendship that could blossom into something more between her brother and Reggie's little sister. Haunting future flashes of her being related to Reggie popped into her mind.

Once they'd all finished their breakfast their dad declared it was in fact time to go to the living hell they both live in that was titled school, so departed the house to the truck. Walking up the road a little was Betty and Archie, probably on their way to school, Brandy spotted them and felt her mood lift, maybe they were both okay now.

Then she felt the urge to run and catch up with her friends, sending a longing look to them and then a distressed one to her dad who had caught on quickly.

"Go on, walk with Betty and Arch, just don't be late, i'll drop the little squirt off, don't worry" Her dad nodded towards Barchie, whilst strapping Teddy into the car.

"Thanks dad" she replied earnestly, rushing over and giving him a hug which he returned kindly, "i'll text you what time i'm gonna be home"

"But, Brandy you have to come with me to school, I wanna walk with Brandy." teddy complained loudly, his high pitched voice that wasn't dropping any time soon hurting both their ears.

"i'll pick you up after school and take ya home, promise" she said, ruffling his hair which seemed to work for the younger as he nodded sulkily but didn't say anything more. She gave one last wave then sped off after the lightening struck pair that were basically being a Jane Eyre level of dramatic. He may as well be the Rochester to her Jane. Except Rochester was a dick…

"Hey guys!" she greeted, catching up with them just in time to hear Betty declare that Archie wasn't allowed to tell her mom they were friends again. Brandy halted slightly "oh crap, am I interrupting a moment? I can just meet you in school-"

"No of course not" Betty responded with a friendly smile that was just a little bit too friendly for somebody who just got their heart broken. Brandy tactically stationed herself besides Archie, perfectly out of the way of the girl who may possibly explode when tapped somewhere wrong.

"Oh, phew, now I can totally kick your asses about not knocking on my door to do this merry walk to school" she accused, folding her arms teasingly.

"Sorry… With Teddy being here this week we figured that you'd get a lift with him" Archie told her defensibly, poking her in the ribs making her laugh slightly.

"i'm joking Andrews, lighten up." she responded joyfully, walking confidently in her short, red skater dress with knee high brown heeled boots. Her hair was hanging loosely past her chin and down to her chest in loose ringlets, having naturally straight, long hair made it difficult to curl as they just fell out. Today however, the curls were holding up pretty well.

The day had not changed from its grey beginning by the time they'd reached the school, Betty disappearing as Archie and her made their way over to their lockers that were just besides one another. She, as promised, had in fact filled hers with Reeces pieces… and SOME school supplies. SOME. But mostly emergency chocolate. From her experiences in school emergency chocolate was often needed. Especially towards exam season.

The lockers belonging to them also happened to be right next to Jason Blossoms locker, which was now decorated with flowers, teddy's and photos of the Blossom twin. Archie was staring sadly down at it, whilst Brandy held a blank steeled expression, unsure of how she really felt. Jason, truly had been a monster to her, but he didn't deserve this.

Within the minute, Jughead came slaughtering over, looking somewhat conflicted, but stopped by Archies locker none the less, offering a "Hi" to catch their attention, also noticing the little tribute bundle being built up for Jason. "Do you think I could use Jason Blossoms death as an excuse to get out of PE? _Sorry Coach. Im just too depressed and freaked out right now to do pull-ups."_ he asked apathetically.

Brandy rolled her eyes "doubtfully"

Archie grimaced and shut his locker "Don't joke about Jason Blossom."

"What? Sardonic humor is just my way of relating to the world" Jughead justified, this time making Brandy snicker and give mental credit points to Jughead for actually coming up to Archie and being somewhat friendly. Then, Jughead scoffed in annoyance as Reggie and his band of jocks entered through the school entrance "heh, look, it's the rich kids from The Goonies. All right, i'm out" he said, skulking away from them quickly.

"See you in Chemistry!" She called out after her best friend as Reggie slammed purposely into his shoulder.

"Watch it Wednesday Adams" Reggie mocked loudly, earning a few snickers from his jock friends, Jughead grouchily marching past and away round the corner without sparing them much more than a dirty glance.

Brandy on the other hand…

"Stop being such a jerk to him!" She snapped, having stomped over the jock with hands placed on her hips.

"Oh, look boys, little Brandy heres gonna defend the freak" the jock laughed in union with his band of hyenas.

She felt her fury spark brighter "Grow a pair, Reggie. Unless you'd rather be the Fester of the Adams family; oh wait you already are, perving on girls all the time!"

The anger in his eyes could be seen from a mile off "bitch i'll-"

" _Reggie"_ Cheryl's voice rang out making the temper contest between both of them simmer some, the princess sliding besides Brandy and linking their arms, making the brunette give the ginger the biggest ' _wtf'_ face ever. "If you'll excuse us, I need to borrow Brandy for a moment. And what ever you two are quarreling about, cut it, if I must remind you Brandy will be cheering you on later this evening."

"Whatever" Reggie mumbled, pushing past them, his crowd following, shooting individual glares at Brandy who shot ones ten times more ferocious back.

Then her attention was on Cheryl, slipping her arm out of the other girls grasp uncomfortably, "um, sorry. Im lost. Don't we hate each other right now?" she asked in confusion.

Cheryl sighed, almost longingly "yes, obviously, but I must apologize to you for having my claws out at the dance last week if we're going to continue this facade of pretending to like one another." she explained. "Cheerleading can't be filled with hate, the River Vixen _must_ preform at top standard today so I want no grievances between any of us."

Brandy eyebrows rocketed "that was a lame ass apology."

"Take what you can get, Montgomery" the Blossom replied smoothly, staring down at her perfectly manicured red nails.

"Fine. I suppose if we're going to keep pretending to like one another I should accept your lame ass apology." She retorted, somewhat spitefully, putting on the mask she normally wore around Cheryl. The pair seemed to meet their usual mutual agreement.

"Excellent. See you at practice." She smirked then was gone, leaving in a flare of red hair flicking over her shoulder.

Brandy rolled her eyes again, well, her and Cheryl could pretend they were friends, dance around the subject as much as they wanted, eventually there would be another catfight between them, and when that happens, with everything else happening, Brandy wasn't sure she could resist giving the girl another nose bleed.

.

The day rolled by like usually until it was nearly time for chemistry lesson, which was a relief to Brandy who was just about done with maths, honestly she didn't understand any of it. What even was a quadratic formula and when would she need it in her life?

So on her way to chemistry, was when the announcement was made.

"Good morning, students. This is your principal speaking." it began with Weatherbee's monotonous voice droning through the speakers, Brandy not really paying it much attention, to focused on her destination "There have been many inquiries about the upcoming pep rally. So let me state clearly… it is happening as scheduled. Now, on a less felicitous note, if you could give your attention to Sheriff Keller"

That made Brandy stop in her tracks in the middle of the hallway.

"Most of you already know the details.. but your classmate Jason Blossoms body was found late Saturday night. So as of the weekend, Jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation" Sheriff Keller explained through the speakers, before being interrupted.

"And may I interject? Neither I nor my parents will rest until Jason's death is avenged. And his cold hearted killer is walking the Green Mile to sit in Old Sparky and fry. I, for one, have my suspicions. Hashtag 'Riverdale Strong.'" Cheryl's voice bled out next.

The microphone was passed back t Keller "if you know anything that could help us find and apprehend Jason's killer or anything about what happened to him on July 4th… I strongly urge you to come forward immediately. You can speak with me or Principal Weatherbee. A death like this wounds us all. Lets not let Jason down."

The heavy silence that followed the sheriffs words made shivers run down Brandy's back, she may have hated Jason Blossom but there was no way she would wish this upon him. In fact she couldn't think of anybody here who would.

Then again, Jug always told her she could be to naive and kind. That _was_ before she put a dent in Cheryl's face.

Continuing on her way to chemistry she rounded the corner to see Jughead cornering Archie with tense shoulders besides the water fountain, the ginger previously washing his face anxiously. Even she could see the guiltiness radiating form him, making her suspicion rise. Archie had been acting weird lately… did he know something?

Deciding to find out once and for all, she jogged a little to catch up with the boys, pretty sure whatever was about to go down wouldn't be too pretty.

"Archie, weirdest thing" Jughead began, eyes flickering between the ginger boy and the ground with uncertainty, but still maintaining a confident tone in his voice that he always managed to do. Brandy skidded to his side, seeing Archie look up at them with panic stricken eyes. She shot a glance to Jughead who didn't seem to care she was there. "This summer, we were supposed to go on a road trip. Over July 4th weekend, which you bailed on at the last minute. Is their something you wanna tell me, pal?"

"Whoa, are you seriously saying what I think your saying?" Brandy squeaked in alarm, tightening her grasp on the folders she was carrying. Jughead sent her a frown. "you cant be serious."

Archie looked like a deer caught in the headlights, shoulders tensing as water droplets ran down his face to his jock jacket. He opened his mouth all though he was going to say something, but then turned and walked away in a hurry.

"Deadly" Jughead glared at Archies back.

Brandy felt sick. There was no way _Archie_ had anything to do with Jason's murder… no motive, no affiliation, not many bad bones in his body… but, the thought alone was nerve wracking.

"Come on detective jones, we have chemistry" she said, pulling at his sleeve to make him stop theorizing that their best friend could be involved in a friggen murder.

That changed the tone entirely. "Do we? Brandy, I know we're close but I didn't think we were _that_ close" he sent her a teasing smirk which she batted his arm for.

"Shut up! You know what I meant" she grumbled back, feeling her cheeks turn pink so she walked ahead to hide that, confused momentarily to the sudden spiraling front flips in her stomach as they walked.

"Hm, well considering we have biology… what did you mean?" he said as they walked on towards the science department. Upon seeing her glare he simpered some "i'm kidding. Not about Biology, we actually do have that. Timetable rollover."

"Aw crap.. I hate biology" she muttered.

"i'll catch you if you faint at the sight of blood"

"Forever my knight in shinning armor" she retorted sarcastically.

As they entered the biology class, thankfully not too late as the teacher came bounding in the next second looking disgruntled and kind of unprepared. But laid out on the tables were frogs… and dissecting knives… oh joy.

"Seats everyone, pair off, gloves on, scalpels up" The teacher commanded, rushing over to his desk to put down his briefcase.

Jughead snickered at her disgusted expression as they took their seats, automatically pairing up with one another. Archie and Cheryl paired up, Betty and Veronica, Mel and Chuck, and then for the biggest shock, Moose and Kevin. Didn't they hook up after the party then find the dead body? Huh, Moose is pretty dedicated. Considering Kevin is the sheriffs son and all.

"OH, Juggie, before I forget, here's your jacket from the other day, I forgot to return it this morning. And like every day last week. But not the point." She blurted out, pulling the jacket from her backpack and handing it to him as he was pulling his plastic gloves on.

Jughead took it thankfully and draped it over the back of his chair, already wearing a different jacket he owened. "I was beginning to think you'd stolen it. Wouldn't have really surprised me considering i'm 90% certain you already own half the jumpers I've ever owned."

"Guilty" she smirked, slipping her own blue clinical gloves on, stretching the material so is snapped back against her skin like in all the doctor films, feeling incredibly professional. "So, how are we going to rip open this poor frogs belly?"

"Well, your going to look away, and i'll do it, because your a woos." Jughead declared, picking up the scalpel to cut the frog with.

"uh, not a chance Jones, i'm no woos, hand it over" She scoffed, plucking the thin scalpel from his fingers and hovering it above the dead amphibian, a wave of nauseousness washing through her at the mere thought of what she was about to do.

A worried expression wavered over his face "uh, are you sure you want to? i'm fine with doing it… and I'm not saying you're...squeamish, it's just that you're not exactly..."

"Quiet minion, I have this in the bag," She cut him off with a determined pout. Jughead held his hands up in defeat, leaning back in his chair with an amused crooked smile to watch. Continuing to stare and do nothing, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the small creature, wondering why is was fair that it was to be caught and killed just so a bunch of teenagers could cut it open to dig around in its insides. It was strung up like a torture victim. Motionless. Cold. Dead.

A few shaky breaths flew past her lips as she pressed the scalpel against the rubbery pale green skin, not yet piercing it, the growing sickness in her stomach not helping _at all._ The last time she was in biology it hadn't ended well. And all they did was watch a video of experiments done on mice.

Then, Cheryl's voice barked across the class room making Brandy startle and look in the girls direction "Oh, you mean because my brother is being dissecting with a blade like this one at this very moment? Don't worry, i'm fine. In fact, i'm amazing" then, her blade was furiously stabbed into the frog and dragged backwards, slicing open its belly.

 _EW_

 _That's blood._

 _That's quite a bit of blood._

 _And GUTS-_

Her eyes widened and a hand flew to her mouth as the wooziness transformed into bile rising in her throat, a direct indication to what was about to happen. Within the second, Jughead had grabbed her waist and hauled her from her seat and out the classroom, shouting to the teacher that they'd be back. Seconds turned into minutes as she stumbled down the corridor, each step making her stomach tighten even more feeling very much like some bag-pipes being vigorously squeezed. Just as they reached the toilets, she buckled forwards over the loo, releasing the contents of her stomach into the bowl which she was practically hugging her arms around for dear life. Jughead valiantly waited outside the cubicle for her, shutting the door and standing guard.

Once her stomach stopped lurching, she wiped her mouth shakily and flushed the toilet, collapsing backwards onto her ass feeling bruised inside. There was nothing more horrible than being sick, especially in school. There hadn't even been that much blood on that god damn frog, it was just what Cheryl said and how she executed the dissection.

Jughead timidly knocked on the door "Brandon? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah" came her stammered response, throat sore from the stomach acid layering it and mouth tasting of vomit. She could smell it, which made it worse, and she just wished that for once Jughead was not here, cheeks burning in embarrassment. "just swell"

A can of coke was rolled under the door "i came prepared." Jughead offered, sitting down on the other side of the door cross legged. She picked the cool can up gingerly, a smile creeping onto her lips. "You know, I remembered last year biology you were as notorious as Aubrey Posen for vomiting so I had my doubts this year would be much different."

For a moment she just sat staring at the wall, letting her body calm down, unsure if coke was really a good idea considering she'd just threw up. But the, foul taste lingering in her mouth prompted her to pop the can and take some small sips. "Thank you" she murmured, carefully drinking more, knowing she wasn't going to be sick again but wanting to take precautions.

"No problem." he responded.

"You do realize this is the girls bathroom, right?"

"i'll admit, it's not how I imagined. Legend said that girls bathrooms were full of tv's that updated you on the latest gossip, with emergency make up dispensers by the sinks and that a singular cubicle held a professional therapist. Now i'm sort of just let down." Jughead replied sarcastically.

She snorted a response "don't go spreading the truth."

"my lips are forever sealed" he chuckled idly.

"i hate her so much." Brandy growled into her palms as she rubbed her face.

"Who?"

"Cheryl. Duh. Are we 100% sure red-heads aren't the incarnates of Satan? Because the entire Blossoms family scream devil worshipers." She spoke her mind.

"what does that make Archie then?"

"An idiot who has too many secrets locked up in his mind. For all we know he _is_ satan. Likewise, with the way things are heading right now I wouldn't be all too surprised.." she replied without much thought.

"Touche."

"Jug?"

"Yeh?"

"I'm gonna open the door"

"Okay."

Slowly, she stood up and opened the cubicle door by an inch, peeking out the crack and seeng Jughead smile dazzlingly at her from where he was still sat on the ground. Her cheeks burned even more.

"Everybody pukes" he told her, getting up onto his feet as well "And, it's not the first time i've done this for you. i'm immune to smell by now, if thats what your freaking out about, and I don't care."

Biting her lip she opened the door fully and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tight "Thanks" she said again, grateful she had somebody to haul her ass from the classroom to save her the humiliation of throwing up in front of the whole class.

He patted her back comfortingly "you can thank me some other time, by buying me milkshake and fries at Pop's" he bargained, pulling away with a cocky grin.

She rolled her eyes, "As you wish, my oh so humble savior. Now come on, get out before you find out about the fairy who lives in the vents and makes all the girls smell nice."


	5. Snakes and Liars

They'd spent what was left of the lesson in the girls bathroom so that by the time they returned biology was over, much to Brandy's fortune who wasn't entirely sure she had much more left in her to throw up. So much for having pancakes this morning. Jughead had scampered off somewhere and she decided to get lunch with Veronica, Betty and Kevin then retreat outside to their bench. The day still hadn't brightened, but then again, did the days ever brighten in Riverdale?

"How are you feeling" Betty asked with concern laced over her face.

"Like I just threw up my the contents of my stomach." she admitted obviously, carrying her own tray of salad Kevin had forced her to buy. Her stomach still felt abused and she wasn't sure it could withstand having another meal right now, so she'd chosen something light. "other than that, wonderful"

Veronica hummed with a happy smile "all I saw was your green face, then somebody wearing a beanie practically carry you from the room. Now, if I recall correctly.. it was a beanie wearing bad boy you mentioned yesterday, was it not Betty?"

"Yes, that was him" Betty replied, strictly keeping her gaze on the ground ahead and avioding looking at Veronica like her life depended on it.

"Guys, stop" she deadpanned them, forcing a laugh to bubble from Veronica.

"Pity I didn't see his face. I got a good view of his ass though and girl you scored big time" Veronica gave a small smirk, pressing the brunette desperately for a reaction, who in return had pink pigment blossoming over her cheeks softly.

"Oh ho ho, no Ronnie, we do not speak of Brudhead when in the presence of them, both of them are in denial and its way more amusing just to sit back and watch, trust me" Kevin inputted making the smaller girl elbow him and nearly drop her tray.

"Brudhead?" Veronica repeated, quite perplexed.

"it's their ship name" Betty supplied dully.

Brandy was aware Veronica didn't know of Jughead's name yet and was determined to keep it that way for as long as possible. "No. No ship names. We are not together, nor shall we _ever_ be together" she stammered out as sternyl as possible.

 _Heart please stop hammering so fast, thanks?_

"Sure, girl." Kevin said with an ill concealed expression of humorous disbelief.

Veronica smiled at the small victory she'd had at chipping away at Brandy, then set to work on Kevin "So, What did Moose want?" she continued in a suggestive tone.

"oh my god, I don't even think he knows" Kevin replied shortly "i mean, I am devastatingly handsome in that classic… pre-accident Montgomery Clift kind of way and sexuality is fluid, but can somebody named 'Moose' actually be that fluid?"

They all chuckled "okay, well I ship it" Veronica declared brightly.

"Well, of course you would, your a big city girl with loose morals" Kevin replied apathetically, not realizing what he'd said until after. Betty frowned slightly but nothing more.

Brandy took pity on the other girl who looked slightly hurt "Ouch, Kev." she supplied for the raven haired girl who gave her a grateful glance.

"i just meant that Moose has an official girlfriend. Midge" Kevin justified quickly, guilt swarming over his eyes. "anyways, terrible for me to say, but part of me wishes he would just stay in the darn closet" he continued, just as they reached the table Archie was sat down writing some music with a guitar in hand, him Betty and Veronica all looked at Kevin with awkward expressions. Brandy just snorted having heard the incident that occurred between Veronica and Archie at Cheryl's party last week. Kevin realized his second mistake. "obviously, I didn't mean literal closet"

"Archie!" Veronica said brightly to try diminish the awkward blanket covering the group as they all sat down. "any new material you wanna try out on a very forgiving audience?" she asked hopefully, Archie made a hesitant withdrawal, looking down insecurely. " _please_ " she added, nodding her head subtly towards Betty who obviously saw.

"Would you?" Betty also asked softly "i'd love to hear it"

"Me too" she piped up, knowing the halt was really about Betty but what the hell she wanted to hear it.

The friendship rift between the trio was reaching a critical state where Brandy was tempted to stick her foot in and sort them the hell out, but for now she'd just let them stay inside their own little bubbles of 'dealing with shit'. Veronica seemed to be the only peacemaker here, while Archie hid in his music and Betty froze the tension over by so obviously not having forgiven Veronica just yet.

Archie conceded "i'm still working on the lyrics, so.." he warned them then adjusted his guitar on his legs "okay..." fingers glided up and down the strings gently.

" _Come on, turn the radio on_

 _And honey we'll dance… dance, dance._

 _For the rest of the night, i'm not ready-"_

Brandy had been nibbling a piece of lettuce whilst listening to the song, but Betty caught her attention as the blonde's eyes flooded with un-released tears. Quickly, her hand fell onto Archies arm, stopping the boy from playing anymore, who then looked up startled for a moment, then seeing Betty's downcast expression. Kevin and Veronica, clapped in sync having not seen Betty yet.

Oh of bloody course Archie's song was about dancing.

"Betty?" Archie called her name softly, driving concern from the other two. "You okay?"

 _Well shit here comes Niagara falls._

Her eyes were slowly rimming red and she sniffled "i'm supposed to say ' _Yes_ ' thats what the nice girl always says, but..." she rose from her seat, the verge of a breakdown evident in her composure. "No, i'm not. I- I want to be. I thought I could be, but it's too much, too fast. Archie-" she couldn't continue as small sobs escaped her.

"Betty. Betty, wait" Archie jumped up, ditching his guitar as Betty began walking away with a fast pace.

"Wait, Redzee-" Brandy attempted to get up and stop the other boy but Veronica shook her head signaling for her to just let Archie go. The three remaining at the table watched Archie chase Betty, until she stormed away from him a second time and Principal Weatherbee stopped Archie and took him away to talk about something. Huh, weird.

"Well, that ship couldn't have turned into the titanic quicker" Brandy muttered, picking up another piece of lettuce to nibble.

"She just needs time" Veronica stated firmly, eyes drooping down sadly. Brandy was well aware of the friendship at stake between Veronica and Betty.

"yeah..." Brandy supported unsurely, wondering if her friend was going to recover from this. Of course she would, its Betty. Well… actually, on second thoughts… _its_ _B_ _etty._ "Oh, to hell with it, I'm gonna make sure she'd okay" she decided, jumping up to chase the blonde as well. Veronica also stood.

"i'll come too" she offered urgently, already having grabbed her handbag.

"uh.. no offense Ronnie… it's just.. um.." she tried to find the right words "i don't think you're in Bettys good books right now." she said as nicely as possible to try ensure she didn't hurt the Latina since she actually really liked her. OKAY SHE MAY HAVE HURT ONE OF HER BEST FRIENDS. But… ugh, Brandy really hated taking sides.

Veronica's face fell again but she nodded her head slowly "sure, yeah. you're right. I totally get it, promise you'll just make sure she'd okay?"

Brandy smiled "Of course, aren't I always the one to save damsels who had no knight?."

With that, she turned and bolted across the courtyard in the direction Betty went, wondering how the hell she'd find the girl. _If I were Betty Cooper- Sad Betty Cooper, where would I go?_

Having a sudden though, Brandy changed direction from where she was heading towards an entrance to the school, and instead headed around the back towards where the dumpsters were. Once there she scanned the area of the small deserted car-parked with three large dumpsters nearly overflowing with black bin-bags. When her and Betty were younger they'd come here all the time if one of the boys had annoyed them or they were just generally upset.

Putting her hands on her hips she called out "Betz where are you?"

Seconds of silence passed before she got a response "Here.." a meek voice carried back through the air, a mess of blonde hair rising from behind a dumpster as Betty stood to make her presence known. Brandy wasted no time running over and pulling her friend into a tight hug. The girl had tear trails marked down her cheeks.

"Don't cry" she comforted the girl In a soothing voice as they both sat down with their backs pressed against the dumpster. "Everything will be alright, I promise" she said, having an arm wrapped around Betty's shoulder comfortingly, the other girl snuggling into her shoulder as more soundless tears leaked down her face.

"it's hard"

"i know. But it's Archie. And Archie's a boy. And all boys _suck._ Thats basic girl knowledge 101." she jested, hearing a forced giggle from Betty. A sigh left her "Look, I won't lie to you and say heartbreak doesn't sting like a bitch, theres like 1 million songs out there to prove that, but eventually when your ready things will start looking up again and you'll realize you didn't need Archie anyway, because you'r an amazing, strong, beautiful person Betty and it's his loss." she consoled.

Betty still shook quietly "B-but… I really like him. The only way I can describe it is my worst nightmare happened in one night and i'm not going to wake up to find it's all just a dream. Instead I have to live, looking him in the eyes knowing it could never happen when I have this burning feeling inside of me that wants it to happen more than _anything_ " she exploded through a ton of sniffles.

Brandy bit her lip for a moment, feeling the pain from her friend and wishing she could do something about it. "Your lack of faith here is almost disturbing. Funny thing is, you wake up from nightmares. You'll move on, I know you will. You're Betty Cooper" She said, running her fingers through Betty's hair to straighten it out.

"how?" the question was delivered in a small broken voice, so broken that she wanted to punch Archie and demand that he reconsider. But, alas, she knew Archie didn't like Betty, and would never force one of her best friends to do something they didn't want to.

"He's your best friend, your muse, your first crush, he's not a nightmare Betty. You don't have to move past him. he'll always be there for you, whether you date him or not. Moving past the heartbreak is different. You'll find somebody else, and you'll realize the guy you liked before, isn't as great as you thought he was in comparison. It's high school, Betty. There's an entire crowd of hormonal teenagers out there, plenty of fish in the sea."

"i guess.." Betty murmured into her shoulder, having stopped crying now.

A few moments ticked by as Brandy allowed her words to sink through Betty then added "Besides, this is good"

"you think it's good I got my heart broken?" Betty inquired like it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard spoken.

"if it got broken, that means it still works" she informed the other girl with a small nudge.

Then, the blonde got up quickly and frantically dragged her sleeve across her face to try dispose of her tears "you're right, it's not the end of the world, and even though it hurts right now it's only high school." she stated positively.

"yeah! Thats the spirit" she cheered, standing up as well with a beaming smile. "we'll find a dashing hunk for you, don't you worry."

"i don't know, I think i'll just try being Betty for now." the blonde said thoughtfull, pulling at her pony tail.

"And she's amazing" Brandy smiled opening her arms for one last hug which the other girl all but jumped into.

"Thank you. How did you know where to find me?" Betty asked, pulling back.

"oh, you know, I just listened for the depressing sound of complete and utter heartbreak and followed that" she joked smugly hearing the other chuckle "do you really think i'd forget this was our spot? Lots of tears and advice giving has occurred here."

Betty giggled "do you remember that time Jughead spilt black currant squash over your bran new white dress and you said you hated him so much that you would never speak to him ever again?"

Brandy laughed at the memory "and I ran here and cried until you came along and told me that Jughead and Archie were planning on buying me another new dress with all their savings? But I wouldn't accept that so you told me I was being unreasonable."

"well, who doesn't speak to somebody over a dress?" Betty retorted with a soft laugh.

"it was bran spanking new!" she defended her younger selfs actions then checked the time on her watch " _Crap_ i'm late for my lesson with Grundy- I gotta go Betz, see you later, k? don't murder Veronica or Archie whilst i'm gone." she ordered then sprinted off at top speed so she wouldn't be even more late. Was ten minutes over the set time counted as being _late_?

Bounding through the school and skidding to a stop outside the music room, gasping for breath slightly at the spontaneous exercise, she was about to enter when something made he stop. Peering through the glass panel on the door, she saw Archie in a somewhat _intimate_ embrace with _Miss Grundy._ A few seconds of processing the image inside the music room left her with a wide 'O' shape formed on her lips.

Then finally her vocal cords kicked in " _WHAT TH-"_ She was about to scream out without thinking but a firm hand was placed over her lips and she was dragged backwards to the lockers, feet scrambling to support the rest of her body at the awkward angle. Brief panic flew through her until she was released and pressed against the locker by no other, than Jughead Jones, who kept her in place with his hand. She took a moment to gap at him, feeling somewhat confused by everything then screamed in his face. "WHAT THE HELL JONES"

"Don't" he said seriously.

"But- ARCHIE-"

"Don't" he repeated.

"Grundy-?"

" _Don't"_

Brandy blinked, then let her body slack in defeat, leaning back against the lockers, the image of what she'd seen in the music room swirling round her mind. Jughead released her, looking angrily at the music room but doing nothing more. The pair stayed in a silence, Brandy to confused to speak, and Jughead to busy piecing together the information.

 _Archie and Grundy..?_

Furiously, she refused to believe he rejected Betty over… over _Grundy._ Was this why he was being such a dick to them over summer by ignoring them? He was spending time with _her?_ No, Archie wouldn't do that… its _Archie._

"I don't understand" She finally blurted, catching Jughead's attention. "This doesn't make any sense, he's _sleeping_ with my _music teacher_ "

"Hey, keep it down" Jughead hissed, grabbing her arm lightly and guiding her away from the music room to somewhere they could talk more freely. "i get it, it's wrong, but lets not tell the whole world. Even if he deserves it. We don't necessarily know that he's sleeping with her"

She sulkily pouted "what are we gonna do."

Jughead glanced back towards the music room with thinned lips "i'm not sure yet, but it'll involve a lot of confronting and arguing, i'm sure."

"great." she replied, running her hands through her hair, today was supposed to be a day of fixing things, but everything seemed to be getting worse rather than better. She snorted in bitter amusement "yeah, i'm so not going to my music lesson today"

.

After being scarred for life by the scene she'd witnessed, she avoided Archie at all costs, not wanting to see the redhead _at all_ being to disturbed to even say hi to him in the corridor. Worrying had overcome her, what if Archie got caught, Grundy could go to prison, did the idiot not realize that?

Shaking those thoughts from her head she continued dancing the way Cheryl had instructed them to do so in cheerleading practice for tomorrow, Veronica seemed to have a lead part which was somewhat surprising considering the tension between both girls.

After half an hour of non stop dancing, Cheryl finally ordered them to stop "Stand down, Vixens, and listen up. The weathers predicting a downpour the night of the rally… but already, you're raining on my parade. With Jason so present in our collective consciousnesses… all eyes will be on me. Will this beautiful, exotic, hothouse flower drown under the town's scrutiny… or be swamped by her emotions. The answer, ladies, is no and no. That said, I need star power. I need the Pussy cats. Stay loose and limber, ladies, while I make a call." The red head brainstormed to them and then walked off with her phone.

Brandy stretched her arms into the air tiredly, feeling the strain of the dance practice take it's toll. Mel tugged her shoulder so that she'd follow over to where they'd dumped their bags, her friend babbling on about the party after the dance the other day.

"wait, you're saying that you didn't hook up with Chuck at the after party? Seriously, I had high hopes girl." Brandy commented in surprise, then took a long swing from her water bottle.

"he got with Alice..." Mel mumbled in disappointment "it's totally cool though, I don't know what I ever saw in him anyway" she shrugged it off, stretching her limbs as well.

"huh, don't worry too much about it. Chuck's a douche anyway. Besides, you're not the only one with boy trouble at the moment." she said dryly.

"Betty?"

"Yep. I thought the day she asked out Archie would be the day the sun shines in Riverdale, but alas, when do we ever get sunshine in Riverdale?" she said bitterly, still angry at Archie.

Mel picked up on her anger. "hey… are you okay? You looked sorta tense during practice"

"fine and dandy" she responded then realized how moody she sounded so fixed her attitude "sorry, just a lot on my mind with Jason and stuff. Plus Cheryl's bitchness to me got amped up at the dance to like 300."

"if you wanna chat, i'm always here for you." Mel offered which Brandy smiled gratefully at. "Anyway, I was thinking, the next step to becoming a rebel is dying my hair. So, what do you think, bubblegum pink or ombre blue?" Mel sprung the question so fast Brandy nearly missed it.

Her eyebrows rose in disbelief "wait, you're really going through with this whole 'rebelling against your parents' thing?" she asked and Mel nodded. Brandy thought for a moment, staring at Mel's dark brown hair and weighing out the options. "Ombre blue. We both know bubblegum pink is my color."

"Sweet. My mom is sooooo gonna flip when I show her" Mel smiled brightly. It was somewhat understandable Mel's little outburst. She'd recently found out she was adopted… and well, her adoptive parents are super strict and didn't tell her so she found out through her adoptive older brother. Now, Mel is all for forgiving, but her adoptive mom wont tell her about her real parents. So, Brandy didn't really agree with the whole rebelling against parents… but how do you tell your friend that they should tone it down as they cope with that kind of information? She figured Mel would find her feet on her own.

"i bet" she chuckled a response, lifting up her bag and looking over to find their other friends, seeing Veronica standing looking pissed off at Betty who was still being funny with the Latina, evidently. Brandy sighed "Come on, trouble in paradise again" she told Mel then jogged her way over to the other girls.

"Look, never speak to me again. If that's what you want, i'll accept that. But what exactly did Archie do wrong?" Veronica was saying with folded arms and a cold gaze, just as Brandy stopped by them.

Brandy lifted a finger to speak but was cut off shortly.

"Are you seriously taking his side!" Betty snapped furiously.

"i'm not taking any sides."

"guys!" Brandy snapped, trying to end the fight.

"This is your way of trying to be friends again?"

"Pussycats are in!" Cheryl announced energetically, wearing a toothy smile as she interrupted the argument. Brandy rolled her eyes. "oh, sorry ladies am I interrupting."

"As a matter of fact-" Veronica began with a hostile tone.

"-No, you're not" Betty cut the Latina off "Actually, I was about to come find you, Cheryl."

"What?" Brandy blurted out in confusion.

"i have a gift certificate for hers-and-hers mani-pedis and blowouts at Chez Salon. Do you wanna come with me?" Betty continued with a warm smile.

"Don't do this." Veronica shook her head, hurt.

" _Butt out_ , Closet Monster. You have forfeited your right to take the high-and-mighty road." Cheryl snapped defensively for Betty, which was something Brandy never expected to see. Veronica scoffed and turned away. "As _pour moi_ , Betty, but of course. I never say no to a pedi. And I was just about to suggest the same thing." Cheryl assured the other girl then turned to Veronica "Can I steal her for a second?" she asked, taking Betty's hand and leading the blonde away. Veronica glared at their backs.

"Again, _what?_ " she repeated with elevated eyebrows.

"Did Betty just…?" Mel asked, pointing after the pair that were practically skipping from the room. _WELL_ why don't they braid each others hair next or swap war stories?

"Well, i'll be damned" Brandy said slowly, still processing. She may be a little bit pissed.

"She's mad at me about Archie, Still." Veronica explained shortly, nostrils flaring as she shoved things into her bag without bothering to be neat.

"Well… you did sort of kiss him." Mel justified meekly then turned to Brandy "See you tomorrow, Dee." she said her farewell then jogged off, Brandy waving to her as she left.

"Yeah, I suppose that makes me a closet monster" Veronica mumbled hatefully, slinging her bag over he shoulder.

Brandy frowned, taking pity on the Latino "hey, Sully was a closet monster, and he was freaking adorable so I dunno what you're complaining about." she snarked to try lighten the mood, earning a small smile from the girl. Brandy inwardly groaned, not particularly in the mood to console another. "look… I suck at helping people with their problems, but Betty will forgive you after she acknowledges what a disastrous mistake she has made wasting that gift certificate on Cheryl. Like seriously, couldn't she have picked me? That would have made more sense in my opinion."

Veronica smirked in annoyance as they began walking from the sports hall "She was being petty and knew it would hurt me more if she asked Cheryl. i'm back to being the spoilt rich bitch in Betty's mind, but I really was trying. I bought her friendship flowers and everything"

"Try making her brownies, she's a sucker for brownies." Brandy informed the girl, speaking from experience. "only after she's had a chance to cool off though."

"hm, i'll try that. Thanks" Veronica nodded "so, I promised to meet my mom after school so I could hear all about how her first day working went."

"Oh, yeah I have to go pick up my little brother anyway." Brandy shrugged "where does your mom work?"

"She's a waitress, at Pop's" Veronica answered "it was the only place that would give her a job.. given my dads reputation."

Brandy smiled "Pop's is the best, trust me he'd do anything for anyone. It doesn't surprise me he'd help out your mom like that. Tell him i'll give him the money I owe him tomorrow."

"Sure, anyway, see you tomorrow, Brandy." Veronica waved through a sad smile.

"bye, Ronnie, chin up, Betz will be fine" She assured the girl then shot off, messaging Jug to meet her by the school entrance and making a point to emphasize that the matter was in fact an emergency

Two minutes later she saw Jughead come bounding from the school, eyes skanning the area wildly until they landed on her, the panic dropping instantly when he saw her flicking idly through facebook on her phone. Irritably he grumbled his way over and flicked her forehead.

"ow! What the heck?" She protested, rubbing her forehead where it stung slightly.

"you said it was an emergency- I thought… I thought you'd seen… I don't know, Archie and Grundy again." Jughead cursed slightly, as she grabbed her bag up from the ground and began walking.

"what? God, Juggie, chill." she tutted, not even bothering telling him to come with her as he was already instinctively following.

"there is a literal _killer_ on the loose and you are seriously telling me to 'chill' when you start messaging me about an emergency?" he countered with one eyebrow raised disapprovingly.

She took a moment "...yes… and no?" she put in then shook her head to shake of the comment "I'm picking up Teddy, wanna come with? I know he's dying to see you, and it''ll keep you from throttling Archie."

Jughead scoffed "Right. Sure, i'll come. Is he still the same handful that Jellybean is?" the boy asked as they started down the road towards Teddy's school which wasn't that far.

"Worse. He's got a crush on Reggie's sister" she groaned, deep down loving her hyperactive brother really. "How's jellybean anyway? Heard anything from her yet?" she asked, wondering how the youngest Jones was faring in a family so whacky.

She did feel sorry for Jughead, he hadn't seen Jellybean in nearly 6 months now and he seriously loved his little sister more than anything. There was nothing Juggie wouldn't do for little jellybean, he would sacrifice anything for her; give her the moon if she asked. It was really quite cute. But their dad and mom had a fight and she moved away, taking Jellybean with her. Jughead's dad isn't… well, he isn't the greatest. Jughead remained with his dad to try sort things out. Plus his mom wont even let him come up to visit now.

Recently, she'd been speculating that something more was up at hand regarding the Jones family, but she wisely chose not to press on the touchy subject. Even if she tried Jughead promptly changed the subject.

Jughead smiled fondly "Good, last I heard from her anyway. She told me two weeks ago on the phone that she rode a bike for the first time without stabilizers and didn't fall off." he looked so damn proud which was so damn adorable.

"aw, next time you speak with her tell her I miss her so much!" she ordered pleadingly as they approached her brothers school, Teddy standing besides the entrance to the grande building that was almost the same size as Riverdale high.

Teddy was stood clutching his dinosaur backpack, searching the flocks of people passing in search for her. A massive grin bled across her features as soon as the young boy spotted her and came bouncing over and jumping into her arms.

"Bran-Bran! you is late! My spiderman watch has the little hand on 3 and the big hand on 20 which means you is late." he giggled into her ear as she carried him.

"Hey, look at you brainiac telling the time and everything. Are you gonna say hey to somebody who came all the way here to see you?" she asked, melting the moment Teddy saw Jughead who wiggled his fingers as a greeting, with a smirk pulling upwards at his lips. The kid wriggled from her arms and latched himself onto Jughead with a wave of ecstatic giggles.

"Juggie! Juggie! I missed you lots and lots over the summer! And- and i read lots of books now in school and Bran Bran says you like books and look I have this one.. its Rohal Dal The Witches and its super cool and we can read it together" the boy babbled into Jughead leg as the older boy couldn't help but laugh fondly, which was a rare sight.

"Whoa, slow down buddy. Yeah, I missed you too. Did you mean Roald Dahl?" The beanie addict snorted in amusement.

Teddy nodded frantically "yeah! and! and! look at my sticker Mrs Hudson gave me for doing alllll my maths homework this week?" the boy beamed, and Brandy smiled knowing teddy loved showing off his stuff to Jughead.

"Wow, all of it? Pretty soon you'll be smarter than Brandy" Jughead responded offering the kid a high five which was giddily accepted.

"Hey!"

"I is smarter than her!"

"yeah, yeah, whatever, Come on little dude, we gotta go home" Brandy called too them, staring with her arms crossed.

Teddy's grip on Jughead's leg tightened "Is Juggie coming too?"

"i dunno, Is _Juggie_ coming too?" She repeated to the man himself who shot her a playful smirk, then shook the boy of his leg and lifted him up in the air onto his shoulders, earning a delighted 'wheeee!' from the younger.

"may as well" he responded smoothly, sounding happier than he did whilst in school which Brandy wasn't sure whether it was because he had a soft spot for Teddy or for now he was putting aside all their current problems.

"yay!" the boy cheered happily as they walked home. "Can we play my new game? And put on the eggs box? Brandy hates the eggs box she says its silly."

Jughead sent Brandy another cocky smile which the girl shook her head at "well _Brandy_ is wrong. And its X-BOX buddy."

Brandy groaned "do we have to? Can't we just stick a film in and order pizza?"

"Noooooo!" the boy giggled, playing with Jughead's beanie.

Jughead looked to Brandy for a moment "two against one, Dee." he justified, then ran ahead with teddy still on his back sending the kid into a wave of laughter, flapping his arms about madly.

"Don't kill him!" Brandy squawked worriedly, bolting after her two favorite people in the world.

.

After hours of watching her brother and Jughead battle on the x-box in the living room, whilst she messaged Veronica considering how lonely the girl must feel, they ordered pizza and then whilst watching an episode of Scooby Doo Teddy fell asleep with his head resting on Brandy's legs.

She turned down the T-V then signaled Jughead for help and somehow they both lifted the sleeping form up and carried him all the way upstairs to his bedroom without awakening him. Her dad would be home at 11 and it was now 10 so Brandy and Jughead stayed up for a while longer talking nonsense about everything and anything, then the time came for jughead to leave so before he left she let him take the rest of the pizza home with hime, because she's a nice friend like that.

The evening ended well, she was still high of the buzz from talking to Jughead when she went to her room to prepare for sleep, glancing out her window instinctively and seeing Cheryl's car was no longer in Betty's driveway.

 _ **Dee: how's Cheryl?**_

 _ **B: Don't.**_

 _ **Dee: Just askin ;)**_

 _ **B: Well don't she threatened Polly.**_

 _ **Dee: the bitch! Want me to kick her ass?**_

 _ **B: I sorted it out dw**_

 _ **Dee: whatever you say**_

Throwing her phone onto her bed she was just about to retire for the night when she saw Jughead sitting on Archie's doorsteps, looking down at his hands sadly. She was just about to open her window to shout out to him but remembered Teddy was asleep in the room across from hers, and Archie was just arriving home.

She watched with thinned lips form her bedroom window as the two spoke, no doubt about Grundy, then Mr Andrews came outside and Jughead sulked off grumpily. Frantically she scrambled over to her bed for her phone and flicked through her contacts as fast as she could, calling Jughead's number when she reached it, bolting back to the window and pressing her face against the glass.

Jughead was just about to become a blur as he sank into the distance when he stopped and pulled out his phone.

" _Hey, Dee, whats up? Is Teddy awake again? Do I need to come back?_ " he asked, the figure turnign and walking back towards the house anyway.

"no! No, of course not, just, what happened at Archies? You looked so mad Juggie." she asked curiously, tapping her foot nervously. Jughead eventually came into view in front of her house, and waved up at her, she waved back. He looked fine now…

"i just gave him a piece of my mind." Jughead shrugged "i had to know, if he was involved with Jason..." he trailed off.

"And..? what did he say?"

"He was with Grundy, on July 4th." Jug said grimly. "he heard a gunshot, and that was it."

"What was he doing with Grundy?" She gulped, already knowing.

"Poetry. What do you think dumbass?" Jughead shot back through the phone with a smirk.

"ha. ha. Ok… well at least he didn't kill anybody, right?" she asked hopefully "and he's gonna report the gunshot… right?"

"Nope. Archie wants to protect Miss G because if he tells the cops about the gunshot he has to tell them about Grundy." Jughead told her, sounding annoyed.

"Jason is _dead_ " she blurted through the line angrily "and all he cares about is protecting a teacher who is probably just fending for herself? How do we know Grundy wasn't involved in the murder and Archie isn't just protecting her for that?"

"We don't." Jughead responded slowly "but I believe Archie that _poetry_ is all him and Miss Grundy were doing that day."

She rubbed her forehead "i'm way to tired for this" she admitted, then a yawn of conformation burst from her mouth.

Jughead grinned from where he stood "Goodnight then sleeping beauty" he said and hung up.

She blinked once, she blinked twice... _WHAT_. She gaped out the window at Jughead who saluted her with a grin and walked off into the night. Her cheeks, resembled a tomato.

Scoffing at Jughead being flippen childish… yeah that was totally what that was… she marched over to the light and switched it off, climbing into bed and shutting her eyes to sleep. She really did not need to dwell on whatever weird _fuzzy_ feeling just ran through her. Definitely. Did. Not. At all-

 _Creek,_

Eyes bolting open again she came face to face with Teddy making her scream loudly and flail wildly, flapping her arms around and throwing herself off the other end of the bed before realizing it was her friggen baby brother creeping in her room. Kids…

"Teddy?" she was finally able to ask after calming her hear. "i think I just had a heart attack, whats wrong?"

"i had a nightmare" he whispered, looking down "daddy's still at work… can I sleep in your bed?" he asked, giving her the pouty lip and puppy dog eyes.

Obviously she gave in straight away "sure, hop in." she gestured to the bed, climbing back in herself, The younger boy wriggled under the covers. Thank god she had a double bed.

Her eyes closed again.

" _Brandy?_ "

 _sigh._

"yes, Ted?"

"what do you do when you have nightmares?" he asked innocently.

"i remember that they're not real, and nothing can get me when I wake up. Plus I have a super baby brother to protect me" she told him reassuringly.

He chuckled slightly, curling up into a ball "but what if the dream is still there when I come back? Monsters. Monsters chase me""

"well, i'm still here, jug is still here. we're fine. it's your dream, don't be scared of it, chances are you wont have the same dream when you go back to sleep" she explained and he quietened down for a moment. She closed her eyes hopefully once more.

"Brandy?"

 _Bigger sigh._

"yes, _Ted."_

"are you going to marry Juggie?" he whispered, with big round eyes shinning at her innocently through the darkness. She choked on air. "Mrs Hudson says that she got married because the person she loved made her laugh a lot. And Juggie makes you laugh more than a lot." he speculated.

"i can't predict the future can I?" she retorted, feeling squeamish suddenly for not knowing the answer. Jeez, why was everyone crowding her about Juggie?

"oh..." he responded in disappointment. "Libby makes me laugh all the time. And i'm gonna marry her when I grow up"

She grinned, choosing to ignore that Libby was Reggie's sister for now "Can I be the maid of honor?"

"whats that?"

"it's uh.. the most important guest at the wedding who's a girl" she said in response.

"oh, then yes." he decided thoughtfully, with a yawn.

"go to sleep, buster. We can plan your wedding with Libby tomorrow" she snorted

"and debate yours and Juggies" the boy mumbled, eyes shut, turning over to sleep.

Who the hell taught him the word debate? Jughead...

Well, now she was certainly not getting any sleep.

.

" _What have you done to your hair?"_ She shrieked mournfully, catching the attention of some walking in the corridor, including Veronica and Betty who'd preciously been smiling at one another. _Smiling._ Apparently the world has corrected itself.

Mel rolled her eyes "it's just a pixie cut" she retorted like it was nothing, loading books into her locker.

"yeah, and dyed _NEON_ blue!" she pointed out, staring bug-eyed at her friends new hairstyle. "when I said blue ombre, I meant dye your beautifully _long_ hair not chop it all off!"

"you hate it?" she sighed insecurely, tugging at her sleeves to her long black shirt.

"no- what, of course not I love it and fully support this life decision but you had such _long_ unachievable hair that I will never have so let me grieve." she exaggerated, flopping dramatically against the lockers.

"dig the new hairdo" Kevin commented as he passed by, winking supportively to Mel who brightened considerably. Which was quite an achievement considering the brightness level she was already at. Was she even allowed to have hair that was neon blue? Did the school have some kind of regulation against it?

"Whoa, Mel, rocking the new look" Veronica praised as she stopped besides them with Betty who was still staring at Mel's hair with something between shock and admiration, carrying a box of brownies. Brandy smirked knowingly.

"see, they like it" Mel stuck her tongue out at Brandy, shutting her locker.

"i said I liked it!" she defended, trailing after the squad as they all departed to lessons, pulling on her hoodie. She hadn't chosen anything fancy to wear today, just one of `jughead's old jumpers she had in her wardrobe since she was running of caffeine having got no sleep what so ever.

.

They all gathered in the common room to 'study' since it was raining pretty badly outside, a miserable day to match Brandy's miserable mood. So far from the looks of things one out of two friendships had been repaired. But the one that mattered most to her was spiraling down hill faster than an unstoppable snowball.

She curled up on the sofa chair that Betty and Kevin were also sat on studying different text books. Brandy had her eyes closed feeling sleep beckoning her, even though it was unlikely she'd get any over Reggie's endless stream of jibber jabber that was quite bellowing, voice reaching every corner of the room. Veronica was also sweet talking Chuck on another sofa, which resorted with Mel tightening her grip on the english novel she was reading. Jughead was lingering somewhere behind.

"And Sherif Keller's grilling me. Mantle the Magnificent. Because _i'd_ want Blossom dead when he was like the only good quarterback we had. Speaking of offensive tight ends, I should've sent the cops to you, Moose. Because here's another unsolved mystery. What exactly were you and Kevin doing at the river? Or does being with the sheriffs son give you a free pass, Keller?" Reggie said argument provocatively, turning to Moose then Kevin.

Brandy peeled her eyes open to glare at Reggie, noticing Archie had also entered the room making her stomach twist into knots.

"Reggie's just being a blowhard, Kev." Betty told Kevin sympathetically.

"Nice drive-by, Reggie" she commented idly. "Some might even say you had something to hide if your not careful"

"Me? i wasn't the one who found the body." He retorted.

"i don't care what he says." Kevin assured them.

Reggie snickered and moved on "i mean, let's think about it. If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right?" he smiled, throwing the rugby ball he'd been holding to a fellow jock. "no, let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic internet troll… too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial-killer-fanboy freak" Reggie describes, clearly going somewhere with this, and Brandy felt her stomach tighten even more. "Like Jughead" he finished smugly, diverting all attention to Jughead who was leaning besides the vending machine Archie was trying to purchase food from. Brandy sat up cautiously, giving Reggie and his band of jocks a warning glare. "what was it like, suicide Squad? When you shot Jason?"

"Lay off" she growled, feeling just how Jughead looked; completely done with life.

Reggie sent her a triumphant, challenging, smirk then ignored her "You didn't do stuff to the body did you? Like, after?" he pressed mockingly.

In fairness to Jughead he took it pretty well just blinking exaggeratedly in acknowledgment to Reggie's pathetic accusation with lazily folded arms. Then responding simply with "It's called necrophilia, Reggie"

 _Leave it._

 _Leave it._

 _For the love of god, Juggie, leave it._

Jughead let a whole beat pass before adding "Can you spell it?" wryly. Brandy jumped up at the same time Reggie did.

"C'mere you little-" Regge growled leaping over the sofa towards Jughead who pushed away from the wall defensively.

Before Reggie could pummel Jug, Archie stepped in, catching the other boy by the shoulder and shoving him back from Jughead "Hey, shut the hell up, Reggie." he snarled, shielding Jughead and surprising everyone. Brandy automatically flew across the room to both her best friends side, getting pissed off now at Reggie's constant foul behavior towards Juggie.

"Boys" Veronica warned, cautiously, holding her coffee carefully with one hand and fixing Reggie and Archie with a firm stare.

Brandy side-glanced Jughead who equally looked back at her with worry flickering through his eyes.

"what do you care, Andrews?" Reggie challenged ruffly, trying to staring the shorter boy down, but Archie held his position.

"Nothing. just leave him alone" Archie responded less aggressively, but still giving Reggie a stare dead in the eye that just dared the other to say something else.

"holy crap." Reggie laughed "did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy blood-brother thing?" he questioned mockingly, eyes landing on her "oh ho, no way, her to? This bitch was in on your little cult as well?"

Archie snapped and pushed Reggie back hard, who paused momentarily, like he was sizing Archie up, then he retaliated more violently, pushing Archie back with such force the redhead's back hit the vending maching, cracking the glass. Brandy screamed, hand covering her mouth as Jughead left her side to help Archie, but got grabbed and restrained by some other douche bag as Archie and Reggie had now tackled one another to the ground. Brandy saw Reggie's fist rise and she yelled in panic again, somehow managing to grab his fist and hold it back just long enough for Archie to move his head in time.

"Brandy- no-" Jughead yelled admonishingly, but it was too late. Having thought it was Kevin or Jughead having caught his fist in all the commotion, Reggie swung his fist back around blindly, hitting Brandy directly on the cheekbone with a bone chilling 'thwack' which threw her backwards into the coffee table besides the sofa, hitting her head again painfully on the edge to top it off. "HEY" Jughead screamed furiously, now going ballistic to try get to her.

For a small moment she let herself just lye there in confusion until the gears in her head began turning and she processed what just happened. _He- he fucking hit her._

" _Reggie_!" Betty bleated as a series of gasps flew throughout the room.

Veronica snarled with fire burning in her eyes "what the hell?"

Reggie hadn't paid attention, punching Archie out cold then turning to see what everyone was looking at him so alarmed about, finding Brandy collapsed against the coffee table, Betty and Veronica at her side in a second helping her sit, the boy holding Jughead began to have second thoughts as he saw the scene and allowed himself to have a weaker grip on Jughead's arms.

The jock gaped "oh man, Brandy- i- I didn't see you there I swear-"

"can it, asshole" Kevin spat, sinking to his knees by Brandy and checking her head. "she doesn't have a concussion, thats good" he commented, gazing into her eyes analytically.

"dude, you hit a girl" one of the jocks muttered in disgust.

"Guys i'm fine, she assured them, but Betty wouldn't stop fussing and Jughead had just shaken off his captor, skidding to his knees and grabbing Brandy's head in his hands, thoroughly looking her over. Veronica darted out the room to fetch the nurse whilst Kevin went to examined Archie briefly.

"It was an accident" Reggie snapped in retaliation.

"what was that?" Jughead snapped at her, concern lacing his words "don't ever do that again!"

"i'm fine!" she protested with a wave of her hand.

"Jug, Betz help me move Archie" Kevin called them and grabbed one arm of Archies "lets get him up onto the couch"

Jughead turned to her "stay here" he ordered and got up to help.

"man, what if you hurt her real bad? That ain't cool" Chuck commented, staring disapprovingly at Reggie who was still sat by Archie in somewhat shock. Brandy wobbly rose onto two feet, feeling her head pound in protest.

"she's fine, right Brandy…?" he asked turning around slowly to see her stood furiously above him.

"Don't ever touch me, or Archie, or Jughead _again_ , got it?" she snapped angrily seeing Jughead and Betty have sudden wide eyes at the conflict taking place within their minds on whether to drop Archie and run to her or not.

" _Brandon-_ "

"uh, look-"

 _BAM_

" _FUCK"_

 _._

 ** _AN:_**

 ** _Thank you for the lovely reviews! I'm so happy i've finally reached this point, now we can really get into the story._**


	6. Amends

_**AN: Sorry for the wait! School started back up and things went a little... all over the place. Anyway, the next chapter! yes. i'm not exactly sure what the protocal for this is but i want to put a trigger warning here for rape. It's nothing heavy at all because for the moment this fic is friendly to read but i don't want to upset anybody. Further in the story there will be references to this so i want to warn you here and now that if this is not going to be your cup of tea, turn back.**_

 _ **Other than that i hope you guys enjoy!**_

* * *

"You gave Reggie a black eye!?" Betty criticized as Brandy walked out the nurses office, finding a small crowd waiting for her outside.

"and…?" she retorted defensively, realizing she had in fact let her temper get the better of her again but was definitely not willing to admit that fact. "he 100% deserved it. Have you seen my face? That bruise is the size of a tennis ball."

"Maybe a golf ball..." Jughead corrected her idly, scratching his chin. Betty nudged his side irritably and he sighed somehow even more irritably "And don't ever pull that kind of stunt again, yada yada."

"Okay, sorry for saving all y'all's lives. won't do it again" she promised, crossing her fingers behind her back with her good hand, the other was throbbing still but it would most likely be fine in a few hours so no biggie, besides, it was totally worth it.

"Good" Betty sighed, relaxing a little.

"ugh, Reggie's cronies are coming, exit stage Jughead." Jughead stated in distaste, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder and wiping his nose on his sleeve, turning to leave.

"You know If it'll help you sleep at night i'll go beat up _all_ the big bad jocks for you" She offered sweetly, flexing her bad hand to stretch the tension out.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need a girl to fight my battles" he quipped sardonically then paused in thought and added. "especially you."

"whats that supposed to mean!?" She yelled after him, a grin broke onto his face and he saluted her and disappeared around the corner just as a bunch of jocks shuffled past them and into the nurses office to see Reggie. Chuck was absent. Just as the last jock made his way through the door, Veronica squeezed her way out form the office and out to stand besides them.

"gotta say, you got him good girl, black eye and everything" Veronica pointed out, staring back into the nurses office through the door window at Reggie who was sat on the bed with an icepack pressed firmly against his right eye. The nurse didn't seem happy that most of the jocks were now flocking around the bed.

"His face, was priceless, I so wish I captured it" Kevin added, ruffling Brandy's hair, the other girl batting him away with her hands to try salvage her already frizzy locks.

"how's Archie holding up?" Betty questioned, agitatedly truing to see further into the nurses office. So far only Veronica and Brandy had been able to see Archie, and that was only because Veronica had been told by the nurse that she was to keep a close eye over Archie for the remainder of the day, and Brandy well… she needed a checkup on her head.

"Clinging to the little dignity he has left" she told them with a mild snicker.

Veronica rolled her eyes "Like Reggie he got pretty banged up on the eye, no major damage or anything. The nurse said he's probably not concussed however it's advised he takes it easy for a while." she informed more specifically.

"But of course, Archie being the idiot he is decided that he's completely fine and is still going to play tonight." She continued with a frown.

"doesn't he sort of have to?" Kevin countered unsurely.

"Not if he gets dizzy because of a concussion or something, you twerp." she retorted quickly.

"The nurse said he's probably not" Veronica repeated pointedly.

"WHERE IS SHE" a loud shriek echoed down the corridor as a flying whirl of blue rounded the corner and bounded towards Brandy who yelped as the figure swiftly flew amongst the group and grabbed her shoulder ruffly. "Dee, are you okay? Girl I heard the news- did you really beat _Reggie_ up?" her friend, Mel, squealed in her face.

"Mel, personal bubble" she said quickly, the other girl stepping back so Brandy could straighten her crumpled jumper.

"i wouldn't exactly say _beat up"_ Kevin commented in disagreement.

"Shush Keller, I totally kicked his ass" she smirked triumphantly.

"After he kicked yours"

Mel ignored Kevin and clapped her hands excitedly " _Everyone_ is talking about it. And he _punched_ you? Apparently if somebody tells Weather bee he'll be suspended… he's already got a warning for what he did to Archie"

"what about me?" she asked confused "i hit Reggie, shouldn't I get a warning too? Or at least some sort of moral justice? All I ask is that I witness Weatherbee kick Reggie from the football team."

"uh.. well we told the nurse you were trying to help Archie and tripped over onto the coffee table which then resulted with you hurting your head and hand." Kevin explained sheepishly.

"Oh good, like the nurse needed more evidence to show I'm a clumsy mess of a human being."She groaned, letting her head loll back a little.

"Was it hot though?" Mel interrogated then saw several confused eyes land on her "i- uh mean. Reggie. Was it hot. Yeah. The punch. You know in films where theres a fight scene and everyones always like oooo that was so sexy. That. This is crucial information I need to know. You don't understand"

Veronica folded her arms in amusement "Sorry, correct me if i'm wrong but are you asking if Reggie was hot whilst being punched in the face?"

Mel, by now was shining a brilliant red "NO! Yes? Maybe. Let my movie moment dreams be real Ronnie!" she sharply replied, clutching her folders closer to her chest and hoping about on two feet anxiously.

They all laughed at her "Oh my god, do you _like_ him? Dude, I just punched the guy, talk about rotten timing..." She said, nibbling her lower lip.

" _L-like? Like_ Reggie? _EW_ no. Ew every bone in my body is disgusted by that singular concept ew-DOn't ever associate me with that absolute asshole of a human being again- ewwww!" Mel, still radiating embarrassment turned high on her heels and ran off down the corridor muttering about how utterly disgusted she was.

Still giggling, Brandy decided that it was just another Mel moment "Well that was weird."

Veronica tilted her head curiously after the blue haired girl "Kevin. Thoughts."

Kevin had been quiet throughout most of that "Insecure. Crushing. Hard."

"On?"

"To be discussed." His eyes fixed on her then quickly adverted to Betty when he saw she'd caught him looking.

Betty breathed in a sigh then authoritatively put her hands on her hips "Right you, home, now. If your doing cheerleading tonight and _don't_ want Cheryl to rip you apart, you need to rest a little bit. Me and Veronica will pick you up before the game"

"damn straight we will" Ronnie smiled brightly.

"but-"

" _No_ buts" Veronica cut her off sternly "You wanna play the hero? Honey, you still have to heal like the rest of us still."

"… Fine" She grumbled.

.

Slowly she opened the door to her house and slipped in, attempting to be as quiet as friggen possible with the creakiest door on the planet as her alibi, shutting it behind her with a reassuring _click._ So far so good. With a breath of relief she rounded the corner into the kitchen, hoping her dad was in the living room watching the sports channel, but of course her luck was just spiraling through the roof today so she ended up coming face to face with the man himself waiting for her, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Daaad, hey." She began awkwardly, knowing within a few seconds she would have to do a lot of explaining as to why there was a purplish bruise blossoming on her temple.

"You're home early." he began knowingly, taking a sip from the #1 Dad mug held in his hand that more than likely contained coffee. She got him that mug last fathers day. "i got a call from your teacher today."

"Yeah, um, about that..."

Her dad did not look happy with her at all. "He said Archie got in a fight at lunch time and you took a pretty bad fall. That what made that nasty looking bruise?" he gestured to her face with the hand holding his mug.

She nodded slowly "Okay, I know it looks bad but I swear it was just because this guy was giving Jughead stick about Jason so me and Archie stood up for him and then Archie started fighting him and I swear I tried to stop it but I got hit in the process by the guy and I got mad because he knocked out Archie so I got up and punched him in the face" The words rolled off her tongue so quickly she barley had a chance to breathe.

Her dad blinked "i thought you just tripped over."

"Crap..."

For a moment he just stared at her, then a chuckle broke past his lips "you punched him?"

"in the face."

He was smiling, so far so good. "And he hit you first?"

"no he was going to hit Jughead but Archie saved him so Archie got the first blow." She explained, daring to go further into the kitchen and over to the fridge now that she knew she wasn't in trouble.

"And who exactly was the boy who hit you?"

"Reggie Mantle, he's always pushing Juggie down, physically and mentally." Brandy told him, retrieving a Muller's light strawberry yoghurt from the fridge and fetching a spoon from the second draw on the right. Her dad could be a freak about cleaning the kitchen sometimes so the cutlery draw was constantly full.

"Mantle? I know his dad. Need me to have a word?" Her dad asked with concern, he loved Jughead like his own son sometimes.

"trust me, I have tried everything. I've been to see principle Weather bee about it so that the stupid school would put a stop to it but the most they did was bring in sherif Keller to have a conversation with all the classes about bullying." She explained then paused "but, maybe I got through to him today."

Her dad hid his proud smirk behind his mug "i suppose I should be the responsible parent and do something like ground you… so lets pretend that I gave some long winded lecture about this whole situation and then decided to let you off with a warning because you obviously argued with me about it."

"My argument was that I did it for Jughead" She declared with a grin. "And Arch."

"and my warning was that I don't want anymore phone calls home saying my daughter is injured else i'll have to go find this Reggie Mantle and give him a piece of my mind." he said sternly, getting out his phone from his pocket to check some messages. "And you need to tone down that temper of yours, this is the second time i've heard of you hitting somebody at school. Reggie's a jock right? Big lad? I don't want you to go punching above your weight again. He could have seriously hurt you."

"it was just a bruise" she argued but secretly kinda wanted her dad to go yell at Reggie. Her dad could be scary.

"Put your old mans heart at ease, did you get him on the nose?" He asked, glancing up from his phone.

"No, of course not. I gave him a black eye like he did to Archie" she admitted smugly, remembering the shock on everyones faces when she'd hit him.

"That's my girl"

"Bran Bran hit somebody?" Teddy's voice rang across the room from the doorway making her whirl around to see her little brother staring at her with wide eyes. For a moment she thought her brother was scared or something but then a huge grin broke onto his features "Cool! Did it hurt? Did he hit you? Is that why you have an owie on your face?"

She giggled around a mouthful of yoghurt "Well he hit me first so obviously I wasn't having that and like the hard-core person that I am I put him in his damn place"

"They hit you?" teddy gasped in shock, waddling over to her side and hugging her leg "Daddy they did bad thing and hurt Dee. I don't like them. You go tell them off now"

"But you don't even know who _they_ are." she laughed slightly, making a mental decision to not tell her baby brother that the older brother to the girl he fancied was the one who hit her.

"i don't care. I hate them."

"Don't worry, Buddy. Brandy's a big girl, she took care of it." Her dad assured the younger, getting up and giving him a reassuring pat on the head, using the other hand to put his mug in the sink.

Teddy was full on pouting at them in distress, still clinging to his sister "But Daddy, they not nice to Bran-Bran."

"No they weren't. Brandy wasn't very nice to them either though, were you Brandy?" Her dad sent her a pointed look to which she raised her hands up in the air at.

"I was defending Jughead and Archie!" she repeated.

"They were mean to Juggie as well!?" Teddy gasped, eyes widening further.

Teeth showing through her grin she scooped Teddy up from the ground into her arms "oof you're getting way to heavy for this. Don't worry though little man, I showed him who's boss. And Jughead annihilated him with _sass._ "

The boys features softened some "Chad's a meanie to Libby lots. I will hit him too and show him who's boss." the boy grumbled.

Her dad took to a more stern expression "Teddy no, that's not nice. We don't hit people."

"Bran-Bran did!"

"And she's in big trouble"

"i am?"

"But they were mean to her first!" Teddy argued for her defensively.

She stuck her bottom lip out and hugged her little brother closer so his cheek was against hers "yeah dad, they were mean to me first."

Her dad sighed irritably, clearly in some conflict right now "Yes I know that, well… But you are younger than her so I don't want you doing that sort of thing, do you think that that's acceptable behavior?"

"No.."

"So you understand that hitting other people is wrong?"

"Yes daddy..." Teddy nodded and then after a moment of silence stuck his head up to whisper in Brandy's ear "You can hit them for me, right Bran-Bran? Is grown up thing, right?"

Her dad threw his hands up in the air in defeat and began walking from the room "And that's quite enough parenting from me today. I tried." He declared over Brandy laughing loudly.

.

Brandy wasn't exactly the most social of human beings at times. But, nor was she the type of human being to stay home and _rest._ So, with her dads permission she decided that no she was not going to laze around at home and impatiently wait until nightfall for the game. Instead, she'd slipped out the house and found herself venturing to the park with Teddy. Outside. With grass and air and everything.

Proudly, she opened the gate of the park and skipped inside with Teddy bounding ahead towards the swings.

"Push! Push!" he ordered hyperactively, arms up in the air as he wildly ran towards the swings with a grin larger than his face.

Brandy found herself grinning as well "'alright but only for a little while! You know I want to read this stupid book for English. Dorian whatever. So just two minutes, ok?"

"ok! ok!"

Dumping her strap bag on the ground she jogged over to the swings and spent two minutes pushing Teddy up and down on them making the smaller boy squeal in delight and her have several mini heart attacks when he occasionally loosened his grip on the chains. Eventually she left him to play with some of his friends who'd arrived at the park with their parents as well seeing as it was approaching the time where lower schools end.

A tree not to far from the slide became her backrest, sinking down and pulling out her book, previously ensuring that Teddy was fully aware of where she was just in case. Content, she began reading with an eye occasionally dashing upwards to check on the kid who was still on some kind of buzz. About one chapter of the way through her book she felt eyes resting on her forcing her to instinctively search for the culprit uneasily. To her surprise, there by the gate of the park was Archie hovering like a complete stalker by a kids park.

Eyebrows raised she slowly offered him a wave with one free hand, balancing the open book in her other. Archie nervously decided to enter the park and dart over to her faster than a bunny on crack, collapsing besides her. When she saw his face she understood why.

"you look like you got hit by Dwane Johnson several times on your eye." She snorted in a very un-ladylike fashion, regaining her grip on her book.

"You're so supportive."

"i try."

"Is Teddy here"

"he might be. Somewhere. Oh god, did I lose him- shit- oh. Never mind. he's with that weird ginger kid over there. Crisis adverted. Hang on… Teddy doesn't look all that happy with this interaction he's currently in. ah well, i've done enough of rescuing people today i'm sure he'll be fine." She settled back down agains the tree after rapidly skittering upwards and scanning the area. Darn in now she's lost her page. "You're lucky he hasn't seen you yet."

Part of her was a bit pissed currently. After all, she still had the image of Grundy and Archie fresh in her oh so fragile mind that really didn't ever want that kind of abuse, so was she to act normally around the guy or… try tell him something between them was wrong with her actions? Was something wrong between them? Was she supposed to accuse him? What is the protocol for this?

"Could use some luck right now." he responded with a deep sigh, propping himself up on one arm and beginning to pick at the grass.

Uncomfortably Brandy shuffled into a cross-legged position. Shit was about to get real apparently. "For the game?"

"and my dad. When he sees my face he's going to flip out." Archie grumbled, fingers tearing at the grass blades in his hands. "you said it yourself, I look terrible."

Sniffing idly she placed the book down besides her "Attempt to picture yourself looking less terrible and more badass. it's not often guys get a bruise like that. Work it dude." she offered.

Archie smiled but there was no real meaning to it. "Thanks for having my back earlier. I feel horrible that you got hurt… I swear the next time I see Reggie..."

"now, now, if you go down that road your gonna end up with a symmetrical face of bruises. How about we go for the more effective.. deadly approach of a silent kill? We slowly chip away at his ego. He can't touch me after this. This bruise right here is a get out of jail free card." Brandy rationalized pointing one finger at the ugly bruise on her temple. "besides, like I was going to let him chat shit about my besties."

"besties" Archie repeated slowly as if it were a dangerous word "so you're not mad at me?"

Caught slightly of guard she gaped a few times before responding "what? Why- why would I be mad at you? Mad? i'm lost."

Archie shrugged "You've just been… distant."

Brandy rose her eyebrows in disbelief " _I've_ been distant? Excuse me? Redzee you're crossing a line you don't wanna cross. If I recall correctly I wasn't the one who left without much notice for nearly the whole of summer. If I recall correctly i'm not the one who is suddenly suspiciously into music and spending most of his free time there and if I recall correctly-" Brandy bit her tongue sharply to stop herself going before she said something she'd regret.

Redzee stared at her but didn't look upset by her small temper snap "So you are mad?"

That was the thing. On quite a few levels Brandy was mad but … it was sort of nothing she wanted to address right now. For the second.. she was going to sit back and let Jughead take the reigns on what to do here. It was more his forte… she just wanted everyone to be friends.

After a pause she smiled at him "Not very. I mean.. you broke my girls heart… you haven't spoken to my ultimate bestie in months and he's doing a bitch phase… you've barley spoken to me about anything recently and you're still a ginger." ok maybe it was a psychopathic smile.

"Brandy..."

"Archie."

"it's … complicated."

"i get it. you're going through a weird bitch phase too. Whatever. I don't really want a part of it. If you're not going to tell me anything then fine. You can work it out yourself. Because for the record so far i've been picking up after you this year which already sucks ass.." She tried her utmost hardest not to glare at him so settled for picking her book back up and shoving her nose in it again sulkily. Silence reigned for a while until she added "but i'm not mad at you."

"Look, the whole thing with Betty… I just don't like her like that-"

"I said I get it."

Archie sat up so his face was visible over the top of her book which she responded to by bringing it closer to her face to try block him out again. "you don't sound like you do though. I would never try and force you into a relationship you didn't want-"

" _This isn't about Betty_ " She hissed back. "This is about you Archie. I don't care you and betty aren't a thing. I care that you could have handled it better. I care that she liked you for god knows how many years and you treated that like it was nothing. But, I get it. that's life. Whatever."

"Look, I didn't mean to hurt her but how are you supposed to not hurt somebody when rejecting them?" Archie retaliated.

With more force than necessary she slammed the book onto her lap and deadpanned him "I don't know. Maybe if you'd talked to me about it. You say i've been distant? We used to tell each other practically everything! Sixth grade you had a crush on Ginger and I talked you out of it because it would have been a horrible mistake which is what _besties are for._ " she growled "and I can't remember the last time we had a real talk about things so don't you dare accuse me of being _distant_ when you've come up with a million excuses over the past few months to avoid nearly all of your friends!"

Archie pathetically opened and closed his mouth flabbergasted "i.. I didn't think of it that way. i've just been working on my music and helping my dad… it all built up, you know?"

Brandy stared at him, having calmed herself down "And that's it?" she asked, daring him to tell her about Grundy with her eyes mischievously, wondering if he actually would or if she even wanted him to, would it just be worse not having to pretend she didn't already know?

Archie met her challenging stare with his own "that's it."

At that exact moment, she decided she wasn't mad at him. A million different negative emotions but not mad. Not yet. If anything she was hurt. That probably showed prominently on her face. He lied to her. He lied right to her face.

"Alright" she said cooly.

"So.. are we good?"

"Far from. But do try to remember I just took a punch for you."

Guilt flooded into Archies features as his brow creased "I'm so sorry… I know I shouldn't have started that fight with Reggie I just-"

"oh shut it. It happened. i'm over it. You should be too. Besides, the only reason i'm currently mad at you is because you're using me as a procrastinating tool instead of going home and facing your dad."

The tension seemed to thin as Archie now began chuckling "Can't say i'm looking forward to giving him more of a reason to believe i'm a deranged teenager who's making all the wrong choices for the future."

Brandy wryly cocked her head to the side with a smirk "You're not a deranged teenager who makes all the wrong choices for the future? Jeez.. now what am I gonna write about you in the year book."

Archie lightly pushed her playfully "Watch it. I can write stuff about you as well. i'm picturing 'Brandon Montgomery, most famous for breaking Cheryl's nose and giving Reggie a black eye. Most predict she'll be a convict within a year.' how'd I do?"

"Lame." she sniggered "and I was genuinely going to be nice. Now it's going to be 'Archie Andrews. Complete babe magnet who has way to much pent up angst issues he refuses to share with anybody but that's okay because everyone just thinks he's going for the mysterious brooding type now. Or maybe he's' just watched to much twilight and hopes he'll sparkle. After all he looks like Robert Pattison.'"

"Too far" Archie laughed, lying back down against the grass again. "you're salty then I see."

"you're a snake"

"what have I done to be a snake?!"

"you're ginger"

"Archie!" A voice squealed and a shape that resembled a baby seal flopped onto Archie's belly, winding the poor ginger who let out an audible 'oomph'. "Archie! I missed you so much over the summer- oh you has an owie on your face like Bran-Bran- was that from the meanie as well?"

Archie managed to shuffle himself into a sitting position, the boy sliding down to perch comfortably on his lap "Missed you too dude, my eye? Yeah, got into a bit of a fight earlier. Don't you get into any fights. You'll get nasty bruises like this one."

"oh, no I no fight. Bran-Bran do all the fighting for me. Daddy says fighting is grown up thing." Teddy replied smugly. Archie shot her a questioning look which she pointedly ignored. "Bran Bran says you was busy with building. I like building stuff. I has building blocks for building towers and stuff. You stay with us now? I see you more now?"

"Hell yeah, lil man. Building blocks ey? You like trains?"

"yeah! I loves trains- Mummy took me on a train once and it went really fast like vroooom and there was lots of people there with us and this one lady had a doggy with her and she let me stroke it."

"oh yeah? Like Vegas huh? Vegas missed you over summer." Archie continued.

"vegas is my best friend I missed Vegas too" Teddy nodded vigorously.

Archie grinned "Oi, I thought I was you're best friend"

Teddy sent him a cheeky smile "No. you're my second best friend."

"So is Vegas your best friend then? Argh. I feel so betrayed. Lil man, I thought we had something?" Archie joked, beginning to tickle Teddy's sides.

Teddy squealed loudly and began wriggling away from Archie, making a break over to Brandy and wrapping his arms around her neck giggling "Bran-Bran's my best friend!" he declared boldly.

Her heart must have melted at that point because she honestly hadn't expected that. In the moment she whirled around and tackled her brother into a hug "damn straight. Besties for life."

"you said a bad"

"don't tell dad"

"but anyway, I have a train track set you have to build if you're into building things. I can bring it over sometime if you like?" Archie finally continued, watching them both fondly.

Teddy gasped excitedly, hands flying over his grinning mouth "Yeah! Can we play with them together?! And Bran-Bran- and Juggy!"

"Nah man, Jughead _never_ liked trains. When we were younger he'd hate playing with the trains. He said they were pointless. Brandy… well it's up to her..." he looked over at her and suddenly all the happy vibes she's collected shattered again.

Moodily she stored away her book into her bag and stood up abruptly "Don't you have to go get ready for the game tonight?" she asked a bit to bitterly.

The hurt on Archie's face almost made her regret her statement. "uh.. yeah. Should probably put some ice on this as well..."

Teddy stared at them both with big confused eyes "Archie going now?"

"Archie's got a big game tonight, Archie has to go" she said, trying to be very stern about it.

Teddy glared at her "No! I want Archie to stay. Archie stay. I not seen Archie for long time!" he pouted.

"Teddy, Archie's going. Say goodbye."

"No!"

" _Teddy_ "

"NO!" Teddy shouted at them both, borderline crying now. Oh great. What a wonderful time for her baby brother to cook up a tantrum. "I want Archie to stay."

Brandy wasn't too brilliant at handling temper tantrums given that she still has them "Stop it! we're leaving soon anyway. I'll tell dad if you keep being bad."

"I don't care. I stay here. Archie stay here to." Teddy snapped back, stomping over to the tree she'd been led against and sitting where she had, arms crossed. At that moment clouds began to drizzle rain over them, starting in small droplets and gradually building up in velocity.

Angrily she kicked the ground and ran her hands through her hair "it's raining, Teddy! God damn it! i'm not staying out in the rain!"

"No!"

"That's it we're not watching any scooby doo tonight now before I go out."

"I WANT SCOOBY DOO"

"no."

"YOu're a meanie!"

Tears flooded her eyes and she angrily blinked them away quickly "and you're a brat!"

"you're fat!"

"you're a baby!"

"You not my best friend!"

Brandy turned with such force on her brother that he actually seemed to look a little guilty "Fine. Have Archie as your best friend then. Doesn't matter to me. i'm still telling dad on you."

"No!"

Brandy stomped off herself and perched down by the seesaw, grumpily resting her head in her hands and deliberately trying to look anywhere but Teddy. Archie seeing their distress had stood in the middle of the conflict in a bubble of uncertainty, her stomping off seemed to kickstart his mind and he cautiously came over to her.

"Don't explode if I sit next to you"

"I might if you say something stupid. you're not high in my good books right now Archie, you're treading on dangerous grounds." she snapped back.

He nodded and lowered himself down next to her, clearly having no idea what to do. "You're not fat… that one was a little uncalled for. You're like the skinniest girl I know."

She scoffed 'wow, thanks. Points for you. I guess i'm just a big ole meanie then."

"you did call him a brat..."

"you know that part where is specifically said I wouldn't explode on you if you didn't say something stupid? Well, you're heading in the wrong damn direction buddy." She growled "Look, just go you have to get ready for the game. i'll sort him out."

Archie had the audacity to laugh "Listen, I may not be in your good books right now but I've known you for nearly my whole life and I sure as hell know leaving you here right now isn't a good idea. You and him are too much alike when you're angry. If you go back over there it'll just be another verbal death match."

Brandy sighed and turned to Archie, rain drizzling down her cheeks "Stop being nice it makes me feel like a bitch."

Archie smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders bringing the realization that she'd been shivering from the rain which had now soaked through her clothes and drenched her hair into rats tails. Pliantly she leaned into him, accepting the hug. "Stop being a bitch, it's making me feel nice."

"touche."

"You really should wear more clothes. You can't wear summer clothes here and expect the weather to be nice, it just doesn't happen."

"It's called fashion, catch up. And fine. Mutual truce for now. Just because i'm sad, tired, injured and cold." she decided.

"i can live with that."

"You're still a snake"

"You know eventually you're going to have to come up with another reason other than 'you're ginger' to call me that" he reasoned.

She found herself speaking before thinking "Archie, as you just said we've known each other for nearly our whole lives. By now I can catch you in a lie. And for that, you're a snake." Brandy told him sadly "now as cute as this whole thing is I want to go home and I think Teddy's had enough in time out now"

Quickly she broke from their embrace and stretched her arms outwards to distract herself from looking back at Archie.

"got any bright ideas then?"

"yeah, you." she said with a snort "conveniently we live opposite each other. Talk to him about trains or something then coax him out of his tantrum and walk home with us."

Archie deadpanned her "oh, so I have to do all the heavy lifting in this plan then, huh?"

Brandy shrugged smugly "you owe me."

"For what?!"

"Not exploding on you."

"This seems unfair."

"Of course it's unfair you doofas."

"Dork."

"Ginger."

Both of them began chuckling, the rain soaking through their clothes and sending a bitter chill running through their skin. Brandy found herself unable to be completely mad at Archie. Their friendship was far to precious. But for now, she was perfectly fine being a little bit pissed at the guy all things considered… plus what the hell was she supposed to do about the whole Grundy situation? Ugh. Why was life suddenly so complicated? She swore last year wasn't this complicated.

Archie rose onto his feet and stretched his arms in their air, letting his head hang back so rain splattered down around his shut eyes. Then he turned back and offered her his hand which she gratefully took and was hoisted up.

As it turned out, during the time they'd sat contemplating things Teddy had cooled off and shyly trotted back over to them, anxiously pulling at his sleeves.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled past a pout, fixing his stare on the ground "Please don't tell daddy. I'm sorry."

Archie frowned and looked back at Brandy, then knelt in front of Teddy "that wasn't very nice what you said to Brandy was it?"

Teddy shook his head "no."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that. She's your sister. But, good on you for being a big boy and apologizing all on your own!" he smiled, ruffling the younger boys matted hair. "I think somebody owes you an apology as well though."

Brandy huffed and crossed her arms "if you're talking about me, you're going to be severely disappointed."

Archie shot her a glare "Really?"

"… fine. Sorry."

Teddy winced at her harsh tone "you is my best friend. I was just angry. I promise I didn't mean it."

Simpering a little she found herself feeling a bit guilty "Yeah, you're still my best friend to buddy. Come on, we have to go home before you get a cold."

Teddy nodded sadly and they all began walking back, the tension high. She really shouldn't blame Archie, but she blames Archie.

.

The game was going to start in ten minutes, so she had some time to kill, which she spent leaning against the bleachers with Jughead who was grumpily staring away from her as they watched the friggen marching band and trumpets that were the entertainment for before the match began. The other cheerleaders were already up dancing for the marching band, but Brandy decided she would just wait until she was actually needed, babbling on about how she's pretty sure that Star Nosed Moles are definitely an alien creature sent to catalog the earth.

"I'm just saying that they're super shady! What creature has 22 tentacles on it's face except Davy Jones but he's from a fantasy film so he doesn't count. Plus he was in water anyway. That's another thing, do we even know whats in the ocean? I mean there are literal SeaPigs down there and I googled a SeaPig yesterday only to discover it's definitely not a pig. That's an alien. The human race is being ignorant to the aliens that live among us. Seriously, the alien specification is strange color; the seapigs are pink. Antenna; SeaPigs have that. Maybe even a little transparent; SEAPIGS LOOK TRANSPARENT. Honestly they look like the Oods from doctor who… in pig form. i'm telling you Jughead. Aliens." She ranted, kicking a few pebbles with her shoes.

"mmm"

Brandy shot him a peeved glare since 'mmm' was the only response she'd been receiving for the past few minutes. When she realized Jug wasn't listening she followed his gaze onto Archie, who was conversing with Grundy by the drinks table.

 _Ugh._

"Does he have to talk to her so publicly?" she groaned, still having the image of the pair in her mind from earlier.

"She _is_ the music teacher, and Archie _is_ taking up music. To anybody else nothing is weird about them talking" Jughead replied finally, and Archie must have spotted them staring as Jughead sharply turned his head away. That didn't do much, Archie came jogging over anyway, Jughead turned his head back as the ginger boy reached them, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "Girl trouble?" he asked mockingly " _you?_ " he added in faux disbelief.

Archie shot Brandy worried look "dude-"

"she knows" Jughead stated coldly.

"i don't' approve Redzee" she told him, analyzing her manicured nails so she didn't have to meet the boys gaze. Honestly she felt a little betrayed that Archie hadn't spoken to her about his relationship with Grundy. She understood why he didn't, but they were best friends, and best friends tell each other practically everything.

"Grundy and me. We're telling Weather bee" Archie told them sincerely, finally coming to his senses. "or, at least, I am"

"Atta boy" she smiled brightly, pushing off from the bleachers to pat Archies shoulder supportively. For the first time today, she didn't wanna hurl every time she thought of grundy and Archie. Everything would start looking up now. Then the memory of the semi fight they had earlier popped into her head and she punched Archie's arm "That doesn't mean I forgive you!."

"I'm really sorry for lying to you. It's just..."

"Complicated?" She supplied cockily.

"Yeah...and also, I didn't mean all that crap I said to you. i'm sorry" Archie apologized to Jughead, both boys adverting their gazes.

Jughead took a moment "It's cool." he nodded then his sentiment got the better of him as the happiest little smile rested on his lips "we're not gonna hug in front of this whole town" he said making Archie laugh "so why don't we both just do that bro thing where we nod like douches and mutually suppress our emotions?" he suggested.

"Yeah. But as friends, right?" Archie double checked with a wavering expression.

"To be discussed. Over many burgers and many days" the beanie wearing boy basically confirmed with a nod.

She squealed gleefully jumping up and down "oh shove your boyish pride up your asses" she shouted, pouncing on them both and clamping her arms around their necks making them head butt one another as she forced them all into a group hug, stretching on her tip-toes so she could reach. "i don't care if the whole town is here to witness!"

"you're standing on my foot!" Jughead yelped through Archie bursting into laughter, both guys complying without needing to be told twice and hugging her back tightly.

"Don't ruin the moment, _Jones."_ then she heard Cheryl's voice ringing out from somewhere so she wriggled from the embrace. "gotta go! My boys better still be friends in an hour or blood will be shed and men will be… uh bed? No that sounds wrong. _Dead._ Men will be dead!" she beamed and then skipped off.

Jughead and Archie shared a content glaze as the hyperactive girl in her cheerleading uniform they both completely adored bounced off into the crowd. Jughead cleared his throat "Why does it feel like she always has us both right under her thumb?"

Archie barked out a laugh "Because she does, dude" he concluded, then ran off as well whilst putting on his helmet for the game.

.

The mayor gave her speech about the event and paid a tribute to Jason then called the River Vixens up to dance along with Josie and the Pussycats. The rain had put no dampener on anyone's spirits. The dance went spectacularly, earning masses of cheers from the crowd as they all blew kisses and ran off to the side, clapping the Pussycats as well.

Cheryl had gotten up on the stage to hug Josie and smile brightly at the wild crowd, Coach Clayton rushing past them to the microphone.

"All right, you all ready? Lets make some noise, put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!" he announced earning another wave of cheering form everybody, then the jocks ran through the banner Brandy and the other cheerleaders were holding up.

Cheryl bolted.

Everyone stared at the now vacant place on the stage in a state of judgmental confusion and pity, before Veronica and Brandy both passed their pole of the banner to somebody else and sprinted after the Blossom at the same time.

They ended up at the girls changing room, Brandy halting by the door and peering inside as Veronica cautiously went further.

"Cheryl?" Veronica asked warily as she approached, the redhead wiping her eyes, but more sobs shook through her "Cheryl, what is it? What happened?" Veronica continued, sitting down on the bench besides her.

"Jason." Cheryl responded with a broken voice. "He's gone." It was like she'd pent up all her emotion for so long and it was all finally breaking free.

"i know" Veronica grimaced sympathetically "i know he is"

"No, you don't. You don't understand" Cheryl retorted through tears "he was supposed to come back"

Brandy furrowed her eyebrows in confused, Betty coming stopping besides her apparently having also followed, Brandy shook her head so the girl wouldn't go any further. Brandy and Betty were the last people Cheryl needed.

"Supposed to come back" Veronica mouthed back to them in confusion and Brandy shrugged. Creepy.

"i'm alone" For the first time since coming back to they school, Brandy didn't completely hate Cheryl. Instead a flood of pity and sorrow filled her, along with guilt. She hadn't been too nice to Cheryl, and no matter how much she hated Jason he _was_ dead. And Cheryl obviously was grieving, no matter how she presented herself to everyone she was still hurting. And Brandy had been nothing but a bitch. Great.

"You're not alone" Veronica said quietly, pulling strands of hair our from Cheryl's face then rubbed her shoulder comfortingly "it's okay." she murmured, then Cheryl sprung around and hugged her, eyes squeezed shut.

Brandy took that as their cue to leave, and tugged Betty's sleeve to make sure the other girl wasn't there either just in case Cheryl saw them. It wouldn't make her feel any better knowing she had an audience. Betty seemed deep in thought and muttered a brief goodbye and left, but Brandy change her mind and waited outside for Veronica who exited with a puffy eyed Cheryl, nearly an hour later.

Cheryl shot her one look of defeat then steeled her expression best she could, sniffling a little but marching past with her nose stuck up high. Brandy faltered for a moment, going back on herself before calling out "Cheryl, wait!" making the other girl slow to a stop and snap her head back as Brandy jogged over.

" _What?"_ she spat.

Brandy nervously tugged at her own sleeves, looking the redhead straight in the eye "i really am sorry. About Jason. I really am" she said sincerely, scared of the reaction she'd get.

Cheryl scoffed "I'm sure" and turned to leave.

"No, wait." she tried again, Cheryl only stopping to look back over he shoulder. "i mean it." she said as convincingly as possibly so that Cheryl would believe her, never holding such an honest expression before in her life.

Cheryl analyzed her face skeptically for a few moments before he gaze was cast down "thank you" she responded almost inaudibly, then leaving immediately in a whirl of red hair that flew over her shoulders.

Brandy let out a shaky sigh, running her hands through her dampened curls in minor relief. Veronica stopped at her side offering a small smile "That was really brave of you. I know how much you hate her and Jason."

"you don't even know the start of it" she huffed a fake laugh.

"if you don't mind me asking… what _did_ happen between you and her family? I heard about the Katy Perry and Taylor Swift level catfight between you and Cheryl.. but what happened?" Veronica asked carefully.

Flashed memories shot through Brandy's mind of Jason's room, her stood shaking in the corridor with a sheet wrapped around her naked body, and Cheryl kicking her out the house screaming bloody murder.

Quickly, she blinked away those memories and assessed the conflict burning through her mind. Was it okay to tell Veronica about this? Did she want to? This could damage their friendship, what if Veronica just saw her as a broken victim? The image she'd so desperately tried to avoid.

Making a split decision and smiling meekly at the waiting Latina she relied with "No it's okay. Jason and me had history. There was a bunch of confusion, hatred and accusations being thrown around. It was bad. He… did things to me I wasn't okay with him doing. We were friends… he was this handsome jock and I was this starstruck cheerleader… obviously I liked him. So I got invited around his one day so we could study together for an upcoming English presentation… this escalated in a way I didn't want it to. Things got crazy, Cheryl made me swear i'd never tell anybody what actually happened. I don't think she even believes what actually happened" she explained briefly, then looked up to see Veronica staring back with wide eyes.

"Brandy, what things did he do?" She asked carefully, looking stone cold serious.

"You know...Forced me to do things I didn't want to...sexual things" Brandy mumbled back, choosing to trust the new girl.

"He _raped_ you?" she gawped in shock.

"yes, that would be the technical term for it" she nodded, swallowing as her emotions tried to get the better of her. _She was NOT going to have a panic attack._ _She was BETTER than this now._

"Oh, honey" Veronica frowned, pulling her into a hug "who knows about this? Do your parents know?" she asked question after question.

Brandy pulled away gently "Only close friends know the truth. Jason's dad found out from Cheryl about me and Jason, but Jason twisted the story so that it appeared like we were just being teenagers and like it wasn't something disgusting. He blew it up in our faces, prohibited Jason from ever speaking to me again. He was so mad...i was so scared and… well that's all there really is to tell."

"We have to tell someone- the police for a start" Veronica stated in astonishment. "He cannot get away with this. _This_ is wrong. He's-"

"He's _dead_ " she spat, biting her tongue that seemed to be laced with venom. Composing herself she tried again "you can't tell _anyone_. If you do my dad will get fired, he works for the Blossoms and right now everything is _fine_. I don't care, really" she pleaded with panic.

Veronica looked disgusted and quite frankly ready to storm off and stab somebody with the pointy end of expensive heels "And Cheryl knows?"

"Cheryl knows what she chooses to believe, that Jason is the perfect brother she makes him out to be. Deep down, she knows the truth, she just refuses to believe it." she shrugged as they walked across the field back to where they'd left their bags, the match having commenced a while ago and was just about ending, Bulldogs clearly winning.

"That's horrible" Veronica sympathized devastation in her eyes "i knew Cheryl was a bitch but thats just taking it to a whole new level. This isn't okay. There must be _something_ we can do."

Brandy smiled gratefully up at the Latina "It was three years ago, Ronnie. i'm over it. So what if I lost by virginity to Jason Blossom. Maybe it wasn't right but I don't want to be the pathetic, weak, girl who tarnishes the Blossom name. I don't want or need the pitying looks from everyone."

Veronica actually had tears in her eyes, which to her only supported her point. 'Oh my god, Brandy" she breathed, grasping the smaller girl into yet another tight hug which Brandy accepted. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." She spoke blankly, knowing that phrase all to well. Everybody she'd told about Jason had ended up giving her the pitiful 'i'm so sorry'. All except Jughead of course.

"in no way, shape or form are you pathetic or weak." Veronica stated firmly "This wasn't your fault either, from my knowledge the Blossom name has long been tarnished. You are this beautiful being who Jason didn't ever deserve."

Her eyes glistened but she hide it thankfully with the hug "Thank you."

Veronica seemed to yield after that, releasing her from the hug and blinking away the watery eyes determinedly "Well, i've got your back, no matter what happens." she said with a sense of fierce loyalty burning through her, then dropped the subject and began packing her water bottle into her bag. Brandy picked up her bag as well ready to leave, very grateful Veronica had chosen to drop the subject. "So, do you think the Bulldogs won?" Ronnie asked like they hadn't just been talking about rape.

The wound Jason had left on her had been sloppily stitched up over the years, but it had never fully healed. For her, a coping mechanism was ignoring it so that she could believe it hadn't happened. Telling people was hard, but eventually she'd gained the confidence to tell people. Jughead was the first person she told… not by choice exactly.

She hated the pity. _Hated it_. She didn't want it. Why should she? She just wanted a normal friggen life. Not one where people looked at her on the streets and _knew_ she was the girl who got raped by the murdered boy in town. They would whisper, gossip. Hell, they'd suspect she murdered him.

Her dad would know. That would be the worst part. Whether it was embarrassment or fear that scared her of him knowing she didn't know. But, what the hell, it didn't even matter anymore since she couldn't exactly prove it. Even if she could the Blossoms would find a way to counter her.

For now, Veronica knowing about the incident and choosing to continue treating her normally made her happier than anything.

Brandy smiled brightly "Definitely"

"Hey" Betty greeted them timidly, pulling at her sleeves sub-consciously as she joined in the conversation.

"Hey" Veronica replied, gently, slinging her back over one shoulder.

"Hey, Betz" she also said.

Betty had a small smile turning her lips then unsurely cast Veronica a glance "i saw you and Cheryl. Not many girls would have done what you did" she praised, as they all started walking across the pitch to leave, match over.

"Full disclosure, i've had my share of emotional breakdowns" Veronica justified herself contently.

"Not even Tina or Ginger went to see if she was okay" Brandy added melancholically, choosing to feel sorry for Cheryl. She didn't really wish away the pain Cheryl was going through which was bad of her, but Cheryl had truly been horrible to her over the years so the girl didn't deserve her pity. Besides, if anything Brandy was being kind, she knew better than anybody that the healing process of something was hindered by peoples pity.

"It's awful."Betty nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around herself due to the biting chill the rain brought. "hey if you guys aren't doing anything… do you wanna go get a milkshake at Pop's?" she offered, shyly side glancing Veronica.

"hell yes! it's bloody freezing." she whooped, shivering in the cold, practically dreaming at the prospect of changing back into Jughead's jumper that was hella soft on the inside, seriously the thing was like a little oven for her. It was also insanely oversized to the point where she was drowning in it, like she cared though.

Veronica sent Betty a playful look "Are you sure?" she tested, their friendship having only just taped itself back together.

Betty let out a soft chuckle "Yeah."

"i'd love that" Veronica said with a relieved smile.

Brandy beamed as they went to go change, over the moon that everyone was friends again now. Things really were looking up.

Once they'd changed they headed to Pop's, prepared with umbrellas this time to shield them from the rain, then they chose their usual booth.

"one triple chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and marshmallows, Pop" she ordered with a cheeky smile.

" _Brandon_ , you still owe me three dollars from last time you were here" he reminded her with a teasing look as he wrote down her order onto a notepad with a ballpoint pen.

"ah, yeah, about that..." she trailed off cringing slightly.

He shook his head fondly "i'll add it to your tab" he told her then left, having taken all their orders.

"Thanks, Pop!" she called over her shoulder as he left to go prepare their drinks. "i owe you one!"

"Who won, by the way?" Veronica asked Betty curiously since they'd missed pretty much the whole game.

"Bulldogs, obviously." Betty informed them "Archie will be full of himself, no doubt for the rest of the week" she speculated, then bit her lip slightly.

Brandy snorted "Rest of the month, more like." then pulled out her phone to drop Mel a message to ensure her blue haired friend got home safely, having not seen her after going on a wild chase for Cheryl.

"hey!" Veronica criticized "no phones, we're being sociable, Brandy."

Brandy scowled and shoved her phone into her jumped pocket hastily. Not bothering to wait for the response from her friend. "i was being sociable." she defended.

Veronica rolled her eyes " _Well_ , I have decided we need to devise a code for when we see a total babe magnet since we are all three beautiful single ladies who are in desperate need of some action." she declared boldly.

Betty chuckled lightly "How about Fox alert? Since we're the Vixens we could say fox when theres a cute guy?"

Veronica hummed "Too obvious. What about Ca-caw?" she suggested.

Brandy snorted "Yes, lets all make bird noises in the middle of corridors when we see somebody hot, like thats not obvious at all." she retorted sarcastically.

Veronica glared playfully "Alright, Montgomery, whats your suggestion?"

Brandy wracked her brain for code words they could use, remembering the other night she spent with Jughead and teddy watching Scooby Doo, panicking at being in the spotlight she blurted out "what about Scooby Snack?"

"Scooby Snack?" Betty slowly questioned with raised eyebrows "i kinda like it."

Veronica clapped enthusiastically "Thats our code word then. If you see any hotties don't forget it." she told them as a waiter stopped at their table energetically, placing their drinks down onto the table.

"Here you go." he announced "One double chocolate, one _triple_ chocolate, and one old-fashioned vanilla" the waiter clicked his fingers at them then left as they thanks him.

Of course, Brandy instantly began eating the whipped cream and marshmallows from the top of her milkshake with a spoon as Betty began daintily sipping hers from the straw.

Veronica hesitantly stared at them both "Guys, can we make a vow?" she asked sweetly.

Betty and Brandy shared a quick look, Brandy licking the cream from her lips. "Sure." betty shrugged.

"That no matter what.. no boy will ever come between us again." she revealed, her and Betty sharing a knowing look. "deal?"

Betty tilted her head to the side with a soft, genuine smile "Deal." she agreed then both of them lifted their drinks up to make it official but hesitated, turning to Brandy who was now sipping her milkshake intensely whilst watching them.

After a second she realized what they were waiting for "oh, me to? I thought you guys were having a friendship moment." she explained sheepishly.

"Come on, if we're having code words we need to have pacts as well to keep us in check." Betty declared, Veronica shooting her a grateful expression. Something about the way this whole deal was set up acted like it meant a lot more than _guys_ to the three of them. It was all though it was a pact for their friendship.

"Sure, deal, whatever" she brushed off, lifting up her drink as they all clicked the glasses together and drank, not really too fussed over the vow anyway, it wasn't like she was going to fight her two girlfriends over a _boy_. Who would she even fight them over?

The door jingled as it was opened, Jughead and Archie walking in, their presence being caught by Veronica and Brandy who could see the door form their seats. The two boys saw them and waited, as Betty turned to see what they were staring at, then shared a meaningful look with Veronica, the vow still fresh on their minds. Everybody was waiting on Betty, it was her call.

Betty glanced back at the boys graciously "Do you guys want to join us?"

You could see the surprise radiate from Archie who began to smile back at Betty gratefully, Jughead smirked at the ginger's relief and confidently took the lead. "yes, but only if you're treating." he bargained, walking over to them with Archie finding himself and following shortly.

The girls laughed and Veronica swiftly turned her head to Brandy, biting her tongue and raising her eyebrows playfully "Scooby Snack." she whispered, nodding to Jughead who was now climbing over the chair to sit besides Brandy. Her face flooded red which only made Veronica laugh harder and add quietly, "at gun point huh?" then she fixed her gaze onto Jughead who was getting comfortable "Veronica Lodge." she introduced politely.

"Jughead jones _the third_ " he replied with a grin, emphasizing the third.

Veronica had a perplexed expression "Jughead Jones _the_ third?" she repeated with a slight drawl.

Archie had sat besides Betty and the pair laughed, Brandy now fully composed again piped up "oh, thats just his weird nickname." she stated playfully earning a flick on the back of the head since Jughead had his arm draped behind her on the booth chair.

" _Brandon_ " he scowled warningly

" _ow_!"

"you're weird" he countered, pretending to be offended. In response she childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

"No _you're_ weird"

Veronica beamed knowingly at the pair. This should be fun.

* * *

 **AN: aw you guys are so sweet! i'm glad you all like Brandy! Thank you for the reviews, i really love seeing them as this is my first OC.**

 **also back to the topic i brought up at the start of this fic, what happened between Jason and Brandy is a major plot point here and will be further referenced. I want to say that i'm not entirely sure if how i am writing it is correct so i don't want anybody to be offended by the way i write this either, i'm trying to make it as realistic as possible. You are welcome to point out anything you think i describe incorrectly as i would rather know than not know so i can try and amend it.**

 **But this isn't a dark fic! at least it isn't up to where i've writen so far. There is still the casual banter between everyone!**


	7. Roses Have Thorns

Cheryl was arrested in Biology, just when Brandy had thought Biology couldn't have gotten much worse…

Apparently she was guilty… that was what she admittedv to being in front of the entire class with her hands outstretched willingly for handcuffs, tears glistening in her eyes. The confession did not take kindly to her reputation, gossip spreads, and soon enough, like wildfire there was rumors of Cheryl being the killer.

Brandy didn't believe a word of it, nobody cries like that after killing somebody. Cheryl may be a complete psychopath, but Jason was far to important to her for her to shoot him in the head; Besides, like Cheryl actually knew how to fire a gun. It would just get her manicure ruined and the bitch couldn't be having that now could she?

The paper just made things worse after Alice Cooper leaked the autopsy report on Jason side by side with a lengthy article on Cheryl. She scoffed over the breakfast table, holding her coffee in one hand and The Riverdale Register newspaper in the other, there on the front in big bold laters read ' **Cheryl Blossom Guilty as Sin!** '

"This is disgusting." she sneered at the paper "i know Alice Cooper is an ice-cold witch who's heart is likely the size of a shriveled raison, but this is a new definition of being low."

"Some people just aren't as compassionate as you are kiddo, hate to say it but the world ain't filed with rays of sunshine 24/7" Her dad responded from across the table besides Teddy, the younger boy eating a bowl of cereal quietly.

"This is insane though!" she argued, throwing the paper down on the table away from her, proceeding to shovel her own co-co-pops into her mouth. "first she leakes the information on Jason's autopsy and now _this_?! God, I never thought i'd say this, but I hope Cheryl's okay. And Betty for that matter."

"Whats an autoposey?" Teddy asked curiously, dragging out the complicated word.

Her dad looked unsure how to explain for a moment then replied "it's a medical term, bud. don't worry about it."

 _What a great way of saying an autopsy is where you surgically cut open a corpse!_

"Okay" teddy dismissed, not that interested anyway, moving the topic along "Deeeee, when you hit the person yesterday did it hurt" he asked, looking intrigued.

She shrugged "A little bit."

"Is Juggie okay?"

"Duh. he's Jughead, he's always okay"

Her dad rolled his eyes and picked up his bowl to take it to the sink "I will stand by my parenting instinct that i'm supposed to disagree with you punching people." was all he added to the conversation, switching on the tap and letting the water spray over the bowl.

Teddy giggled, finishing off his cereal "You're like spider-man now. Spiderman saves people. I'm gonna tell everyone at school, even Harry who thinks spiderman is a stoopid superhero."

"What? Why am I Spiderman? can't I be ironman? he's so much cooler than Spidey." She complained.

"But.. ironman saves all the big people.. spiderman saves the little peoples- like- like Jughead!" Teddy explained to justify his case. Brandy opened her mouth for a moment to argue then closed it, giving her brother a fond look before her dad interrupted it.

"Ted, maybe it was a little bit cool that your sister punched someone but it still doesn't make it right so why don't we not tell anybody at school? Huh?" Her dad reasoned with a fatherly tone.

Teddy still had a massive grin "But Bran-Bran's like spiderman now."

Despite the uncomfortable expression her dad bore at the situation Brandy couldn't help but smirk smugly around a mouthful of co-co-pops. "Spiderman had to keep his identity a secret, remember?"

The little boy stuck out his bottom lip "Oh… yes. I forgot. don't worry, I won't tell anybody. Even if you isn't the real spiderman."

Sighing slightly in faux annoyance, she leaned over the table "Don't listen to dad, he's just jealous."

" _Brandon"_ Her dad said with a warning tone.

"What?" she replied innocently over Teddy's giggles.

"you know _what_. Now come on, go get your bags before we're late for school" He ordered. Teddy smiled sneakily at her, stuffing the rest of his cereal into his mouth and hopping down from his chair to run and get his backpack. Her dad turned back to her "Promise me you won't get into anymore fights at school?"

She rolled her eyes "yes, dad. I promise."

He smiled, content with that answer for now despite the sarcasm lacing it "good, I just worry about you, sweetheart"

"i know, dad. But, really, I can handle myself" she reassured him as Teddy bounded back into the room with his things, grabbing her hand to pull her from the chair.

"C'mon Bran-Bran it's time for school!" he announced gleefully, leading her out the room towards the car as she sent her half-finished cereal a mournful look, managing to snag her bag that was in the porch before she was forced from the building and into the car.

.

"Mel, whats wrong?" she pestered as the other girl marched on ahead, not looking back over her shoulder.

"whats _wrong_ is that my mother grounded me for _this_ " she exclaimed, pointing to her still very much blue hair. _Shocker._

Brandy bit her tongue to stifle a few giggles threatening to escape "Well.. what did you expect? You _did_ do it to piss her off" she reminded the other girl who seemed to get even more annoyed by those words if it was possible.

"she didn't have to _ground_ me though." she grumbled "now how am I going to meet up with Ginger after school?!"

Brandy had to do a double take before she was even able to respond to that. " _Meet up with-_ WHAT? As in the Ginger that hangs around with Cheryl and the other side bitch? i'm just asking because you know WE HATE HER." she shrieked loudly.

Mel slowed as they entered the common room, smiling shyly upon seeing the girl on the other side of the room "she's actually really nice" she sighed earnestly, gaze not leaving the classic mean girl who was stood with a dainty hand on her hip besides Tina, messaging rapidly on her phone.

Brandy rolled her eyes and pushed Mel further into the room so they could sit with their own group of friends. "She pretty much made my life a living hell for me since third grade." she complained, not at all approving of this. "what part of that is _nice?"_

Mel pouted "we all have our faults" she defended.

Brandy grimaced but said nothing more, seeing Archie had come from the head teachers office which immediately caught her attention, he seemed to be telling the story of what happened whilst he admitted hearing a gunshot on July 4th to Veronica Kevin and Betty. She sat herself down on the ground by Kevin legs, listening as well as Mel plopped down onto the arm of the sofa.

Once he finished Veronica asked "so are you a suspect now?"

"My dad says we all are, including me." Kevin supplied for her, waving a strawberry lace that was in his hand about as he spoke, one of the few perks of being the sheriffs son was that you got the deets. And one of the many perks of being the Sheriffs sons friend, was that you also got all the juicy deets.

"not me girl. I don't know these people." Veronica said with a smug smirk.

"Wouldn't that be a plot twist" Brandy chuckled darkly from the ground earning a light kick from the Latina.

"Guys, should we maybe re-binge _Making A Murder_ on Netflix tonight?" he jested but Brandy perked up at the mention of Netflix.

"Ha, ha."

"oh my god! We forgot about the sleepover guys! Well, no sorry, no guys allowed, but us girls seriously need to do that sleepover we discussed like two weeks ago" Brandy stressed, pinching a strawberry lace from Kevin who sent her a betrayed glare.

"a sleepover for just girls and you wont invite me? Hurt is an understatement, Montgomery." he said, sticking his nose up in the air away from her.

"alright a girls night plus Kev." she corrected, trying to hide her chuckle with her hand.

"Sorry, can't. Gotta stay late to work on the paper." Betty answered apologetically.

Brandy cocked her head to the side "paper? What paper? Oh jeez, did we get another english assignment whilst I was sleeping. Darn it.. Archie wake me up next time!"

"no, i'm going to try bring the Blue and Gold news back. I need to ask Jughead for his help, actually." she informed them offhandedly, deep in thought suddenly.

 _Why does she need Jugheads help?_

Mel saw Brandy's somewhat shocked expression so jumped in "i can't make it either, grounded, remember?"

"Count me out too. i've got a date tonight" Veronica smirked, shifting in the chair to get more comfortable. The air changed the second the words fell out of her mouth.

"you do?" Archie asked quietly from his seat, jealousy evident in his eyes.

"which Riverdale hottie made the cut?" Kevin asked enthusiastically, swatting Brandy who was stealing another strawberry lace to munch on.

Veronica was about to respond, but somebody else did for her "Hey, V-LO. I'll swing by the Pembrooke to pick you up at 8?" Chuck double checked from the doorway as he put on his jacket, Reggie and Matt behind him.

Brandy was about to scoff and tell him to f-off, but Veronica smiled seductively at the guy "i'll be waiting" she responded smoothly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Cool" Chuck grinned smugly then left with the other two jocks following, Brandy was almost confused if not disappointed that Mel was so calm about that interaction, the blue haired girl just sat munching on the snacks available on the coffee table like she hadn't even heard the conversation. Talk about moving on quickly.

"You're going on a date with _HIM?"_ Brandy exclaimed in disbelief, how many girls were hooking up with jocks these days, jeez.

" _Chuck Clayton?"_ Betty added, holding the same shocked expression.

"no, seriously, before I try to comprehend that this is the version of reality we live in will you please explain why the hell you chose Chuck of all people to go on a date with?" she blurted out.

"He's kind of a player" Betty explained disapprovingly.

"who cares? he's the hottest of the hot." Kevin gushed in awe "and he's the varsity football coach's son. In Riverdale, that's like dating a Kennedy."

Brandy sat thoughtfully for a second as she processed that one of her friends was now edging towards relationships with one of the biggest douches in school. Archies glare at the ground didn't go unnoticed by her. Finally she smiled up at Veronica "i want details, Ronnie. And next time, Scooby Snack it before you tap it." she ordered earning confused gazes from the boys, having informed Mel already of the code word.

Veronica beamed, twirling her hair "down to the tik." she promised with a nod.

Archie got up and stormed out.

Brandy frowned and got up to go after him "Imma make sure that.. uh he's uh... taking his vitamins? yeah.- OH, and the sleepoever talk is to be continued at a later date; this isn't over!" she told the rest of the squad then bounded after Archie "hey, Redzee, wait up." she called down the narrow corridor, Archie slowed so she could walk with him. " _We_ need to talk" she declared firmly.

"This should end well..." he muttered.

"Remember that part of yesterday where I specifically gave you a very obvious opportunity to tell me everything and you just lied to my face? Yeah that's still fresh in my mind as well!" she began with a passive aggressive chirp in her tone.

Archie awkwardly scratched the back of his head "i'm seriously sorry about that..."

"Damn right you are"

"I told you it was complicated..."

"you and Grundy" she began, seeing his expression turn defensive in a nano-second. "spill."

"i suppose I do owe you an explanation..." he trailed off nervously.

" _damn right_ you do" she nodded "you get with a girl over the summer and don't tell me? Jeez, I didn't sign up to be you're best friend to face this kind of rejection" she jested to lighten the mood.

"what could I say, Brandy? I was sleeping with your music teacher? Can you honestly say you wouldn't have slapped me?" he accused her.

She simpered a little "i wouldn't have _slapped_ you. Maybe yelled a little. But I wouldn't assault you Archiekins your far to pretty for that" she assured him. "but… Archie… she _is_ kind of.."

"a teacher. I know" he snapped slightly, agitated. "i get it, I shouldn't like her but I do. I can't help it."

She paused thoughtfully "is what you feel real for her? Are you sure this isn't just some… crush that you'll regret having in two years time?"

"Whatever I feel for her, its real" he confirmed with a solemn nod. "i know you don't approve.. but could you at least try act like you support it?"

She thinned her lips the sighed "look, I sure as hell don't approve of it and think i've missed about three music lessons this week because I didn't think I could look at Grundy the same way, but… if it makes you happy, then i'll _try_ to accept it." Brandy promised.

Archie smiled down at her, wrapping an arm over her shoulder to give a short side-hug. "thanks, seriously, I appreciate it." he responded, sounding more relieved "you're opinion is important to me. And you forgive me right? I hate it when you're mad at me."

Brandy pretended to think for a moment, humming to prolong her answer "i suppose."

At that moment, Jughead rounded the corner with a sour expression, eyes locking onto Archie's arm draped over Brandy and his expression only worsened, not bothering to stop as Brandy waved a greeting at him and instead pushing passed them and heading towards where the blue and gold used to be set up.

"who ate his bowl of sunshine this morning?" she asked sarcastically as Archie pulled his arm off her, looking back in confusion. "Anyway, back to Grundy, if you guys are like… a thing, she was okay with you telling Weatherbee about July 4th?"

"i left her out of it." he said quickly.

"have you talked to her since?" she asked.

Archie faltered "..no..."

"oh man, good luck with that one then" she snorted.

.

That night she had Ballet practice so had her dad pick up Teddy after school. She stayed late until about 7pm before heading home due to the upcoming autumn ballet show which she had a lead part in. it was Swan Lake which she absolutely adored. Only problem was she needed some new shoes as hers were too worn and starting to give her blisters.

By the time she got home she was starving, walking up her porch carrying her ballet bag and flickering through her phone, frowning that she had no messages from , he always messages her. She decided to leave it and drop Veronica a message instead to ask how the date went. The Latina responded within seconds with…

 _ **V: Amazeballs! Bit boring tho so not my type + before you grill me for gos like Betz we just had a milkshake- get your mind out of the gutter!**_

She got inside and shut the door, locking it and dumping her back on the ground, retreating to the kitchen to find the Cooper girl writing in full concentration mode on a piece of paper at the table. Blinking in surprise she cleared her throat to make her presence know, the other girl jolting up startled.

"oh, Brandon, sorry. Your dad let me in and said I could wait in here until you got back from Ballet. I brought cookies that my mom made for you guys… also I and no idea your dad was a wild life channel type of guy. Who knew." she explained quickly, putting down her pen. It wasn't uncommon for Brandy to come home finding her friends lounging about like they owned the place, her dad was on good terms with all of them, even though he low-key favored Jughead.

"Thats fine, and yeah he says that David Attenboroughs voice is the reason he watches them… he's a weirdo like that." she drawled, diving into the fridge to locate some food and pulling out some leftovers from Pop's "want some?" she offered to which Betty shook her head at. "

"no i'm fine, thanks. I actually came over because I didn't want to listen to my mom brag about her article hit in the paper" she responded, going back to writing on the paper she had which was spiking Brandys curiosity somewhat.

"ugh, that piece of garbage." she rolled her eyes, then hesitated with a wince shooting Betty a guilty glance "sorry, I forget that she's your mom sometimes."

Betty waved her off "Don't worry, I'm in total agreement with you. It's completely unfair on the Blossoms. With everything they must be going through… god that was the last thing they needed."

"It's an insult to injury" She sighed tiredly, then as she stuck the leftovers in the microwave she peered over Betty's shoulder curiously "watcha working on?"

"My plan for the Blue and Gold, which leads to the second reason why i'm here" she replied, swirling on her stool to face Brandy "you're the only person I know thats semi decent with a camera, would you pretty please take photos for the Blue and Gold? It would really help me out" she pleaded with a puppy dog face.

Brandy rose her eyebrows "erm, sure. i'm not _that_ good though, so don't expect like Peter Parker level photography skills" she jested, plopping down into the seat besides the girl.

"great" Betty breathed out in relief "thanks, I owe you, really, you're a lifesaver" she exclaimed, hurriedly scribbling Brandys name down on the paper besides 'Photographer'. She noticed Jugheads name was down my co-writer. "any good material you have just bring it to me and i'll stick it in somewhere"

"if I recall, you owe me double, now, Betz" she smirked, jumping up to grab her dinner as the microwave began beeping. The smell of Pop's food wafted around the kitchen making her stomach grumble hungrily.

"i'll get you a milkshake" she said dismissively.

Betty stayed for an hour more, the two girls deciding to work on maths homework together since Brandy actually sucked at it. Then Betty had to leave so Brandy decided to order some new ballet shoes then flick through the photos in her camera that she'd already taken. There was a wide collection of photos from the forest just up the road from where Veronica now lived, a few of the town, and a bunch of rivers; she purposely skipped past the ones of Sweetwater.

Then after flicking through for some time she came across the photos from last year at a fair that had passed through town, a smile wriggling onto her lips as she saw the photos she'd taken of her and her friends, the rides, a weird clown they were all sure would murder them, her favorite however was by far a photo Archie had taken when he stole her camera, it displayed her and Jughead. Jughead had convinced her to go on the dunk tank and she'd just come out of it soaking wet so decided to wrap Jughead into a tight hug so his clothes would also get soaked. That was the photo, her hugging Jughead whilst laughing, and Jughead desperately trying to escape, laughing none the less.

Smiling fondly, she flicked through a few more and was about to turn off her camera when she noticed something weird in the background of one of the carnival photos. The photo itself was of the ferris wheel and looked very aesthetic in her humble opinion. But she zoomed in on the line waiting to board the wheel. Hang on… was that her dad? See, her dad being in line for the carnival wheel wasn't weird, but her dad being in line for the ferris wheel _with_ a fancy looking woman _was_ weird. That didn't look like Rachel… who the hell was the girl? She was holding his hand. Romance. Yeuach.

What bothered her though was that she'd never seen this woman before in her life. It would help if she could see her face.. unfortunately in the shot the woman was facing towards the wheel and her dad was looking at the woman's face.

Her brain ached. This was definitely a tomorrow problem.

.

She was fifteen minutes late for school the next day, having got zero sleep _again_. All she could think about was that darn photo… what did it even _mean_. Why was her dad with some chick from the festival last year? He never said anything…

Shrugging those thoughts from her mind she arrived at school, thankful she had a free and found Veronica, Betty and Kevin all stood glaring daggers through a phone in Veronicas hand. _Oh boy. More trouble_

Inwardly she groaned, debating whether or not to just turn the hell around and get out of there, but her curiosity go the better of her so she valiantly strolled over like the good friend that she definitely wasn't, as she arrived she heard six words of doom.

" _What the hell is a sticky maple?"_

Oh crap.

"oh god, he didn't" she winced, alerting them of her presence. Her temper began rising as she put the pieces together, working out what Chuck had done before she'd even stopped walking.

"morning Brandy" Betty murmured.

"I repeat, _what the hell is a sticky maple?!"_ Veronica demanded, getting more frustrated.

Kevin frowned at the people sending Veronica smirks "it's kind of what it sounds like. it's a Riverdale thing."

"no, Kevin, it's a slut-shaming thing..." Veronica corrected, fury bubbling in her eyes as she digested the act. "...and i'm neither a slut, nor am I gonna be shamed by someone named- excuse me?- Chuck Clayton."

"We did try and warn you.." Brandy offered judgmentally earning a glare being fueled by Veronicas dormant wrath.

"Ok, no offense, Brandon, but the last thin I need right now is 'i told you so's' because i'm not as on the ball with everything in this town yet" Veronica snapped back at her.

Brandy rose her arms up in defense. "it's not my fault I hit the nail on the head about Chuck" she muttered a response, rubbing at her eyes tiredly, having dressed herself in another pastel pink dress she owned.

"Does he think he can get away with this? Does he not know who I am?" Veronica raged, staring back down at the photo, Brandy peering over to see and sure enough, there was Veronica and Chuck smiling in the selfie, only there had been maple syrup edited over Veronicas face. "i will cut the brakes on his souped-up phallic symbol."

"or we can go to principle Weatherbee" Betty jumped in alternatively.

"about the coach's son? who's captain of the football team and Riverdale High's resident golden boy?" Veronica countered, feeling exposed and violated.

"she sorta has a point" Brandy grumbled.

Betty pressed on non-the-less "and/or I can expose him in the pages of the Blue and Gold- yeah I can do that!"

"No" Veronica cut the blonde off sharply "Spoken like a true good girl who always follows the rules" she shoved Kevin's phone back into his hands and pushed past them to stomp up the corridor. The group shared a look and then her and Betty trailed after her "well, I don't follow rules. I make them. And when necessary, I break them."

" _Ronnie,_ calm down- we'll help you sort this out- just slow down before you scare a freshman!" she called after the furious Latina.

"Maybe it'll teach them the true colors of high school" she growled "you wanna help me get revenge on Chuck? Awesome. But you better be willing to go full dark, no stars. What do you say, in or out?" Veronica seethed through her teeth.

Brandy gaped for a second, not quite used to seeing the other girl so mad when she usually resembled a hyperactive puppy if anything. "Like i'd allow Chuck to go around hurting my friend like this without incorporating some sort of vengeance. And i'd totally still be up for this even if he hadn't hurt you. Just saying. He's a dick. Like we sai-" Betty nudged her to cut her off. "- But yeah, count me in."

Veronica nodded thankfully, turning to the unsure blonde " _Betty?"_

At that Mel joined them, saving Betty from having to answer the question by shouting "this is unacceptable!" waving her phone in their faces showing the picture of veronica and Chuck with an equally furious expression that matched Veronica's "i can't believe he'd do something like this! Hottie or not there is a _line_ and he just skipped over it… bragging about it to all the guys in football practice, I mean like what a _jerk_."

" _Mel_ ," Betty hissed, seeing Veronicas face darken further.

" _what?"_ The raven haired girl growled, hand tightening around her bag as her nostrils flared.

Mel nodded wildly "oh yeah, told the whole squad about it. Ginger told me she heard them when she was walking past the pitch. They said you were real -"

"out of my way, smurf head" Veronica cut the other girl off, striding towards the boys changing rooms.

Brandy sighed and tugged Mel's' sleeve for the other girl to follow, leaning into her ear "now look what you've done!"

"what?" Mel asked, confused.

The four of them reached the changing room and before any of them could stop Veronica she marched in without hesitation, shoving the half naked boys who happened to cross her path to the side, earning a bunch of odd looks, some whistling at her.

Brandy and co followed somewhat timid about entering the boys changing room. Mel bounding ahead verbalizing her complaints about the boys hygiene standards.

The smell was dreadful. It was musky, and sweaty, and like the boys hadn't showered at all. She scrunched her nose up in disgust, trying to not stare at the flock of bare, muscly chests surrounding her so she could save herself from the embarrassment of having a flushed face. Betty had taken to shielding her eyes with her hand.

As they advanced through the room, Veronica accidentally bumped into Archie making the ginger boy almost drop the towel on his waist past the safe point if he hadn't used his ninja like reflexes to catch it. Upon seeing them he gawped "Veronica? Mel? What are you guys doing her?" he asked looking over Veronicas shoulder to see the other two girls " _Brandy? Betty?_ You guys too?"

Brandy offered a small wave but Veronica wasn't waiting around and smiled as politely as possible "don't worry about it." she declared, moving forward but being blocked again

"-No-"

"i mean it, Andrews. Hit the showers and stay out of my way." She exploded in his face, pushing his sweaty body away from hers then storming past, Mel chewing her gum whilst admiring the look of semi-naked Archie before following, with Betty by her side with burning cheeks.

Brandy hesitated with a smirk "boy trouble." she supplied then playfully looked him up and down "nice abs Redzee, the legend speaks truth, they weren't a fake. Oh, and FYI you seriously stink" she then chased after the other girls who were just about to confront Chuck.

"Right on, Ladies" Chuck greeted them with a smug smirk, rubbing his hands together expectantly.

Mel folded her arms sassily "save it"

Veronica shoved her phone in his face to display the picture "This is _disgusting._ Take it down" she ordered sternly, sending him a challenging glare that all but dared him to argue.

"whoa. Whoa, why are you so wound up? it's a badge of honor." Chuck defended the image like it was something good, making Brandy scoff. "and you're not exactly in virgin territory after your closet date with Andrews."

"okay, that's beyond irrelevant, Chuck. you're not allowed to go around humiliating girls for any reason under any circumstances" Betty retaliated bitterly, waving her arms around exasperatedly then stumbled for words " _..Jerk"_

Chuck gave Betty an 'Are you serious?" expression before replying "look, I get you're not a closet kind of girl but hey, if you wanna ride the Chuck Wagon that can be arranged."

Brandy's temper flickered dangerously upwards and she stepped forward "Listen asshole, who the hell do you think you are, some kind of sex god that every female worships? Bouncing from girl to girl! Doesn't that make _you_ the slut? Maybe Veronica did go in the closet but at least it was with just one guy" she retorted, staring at Chuck with disgust.

Chuck sent her a surprised look "and I suppose you're gonna punch me like you did to Reggie if I don't do things your way?" he countered.

"She'd punch you even if you did do things her way" Mel snorted.

"i'd like to see _her_ try." Chuck scoffed in disbelief, looking Brandy up and down "Sorry baby, i'm just not into that kind of kinky crap"

"i will gut you Clayton" she shrieked, fully intent on pouncing on the boy had Betty not grasped her arm firmly to hold her back, the boy laughing at her pitifully.

Veronica shook her head "Let's keep this simple so that your preppy murderer half brain can grasp it. Take. This. _the hell_. down" she ordered again, walking so that she was stood right in front of Chuck, shoulders straight and confident as she puffed out her chest.

Chuck finally frowned in a serious manner that indicated he was done goofing for the second "Okay, that high-toned bitch attitude may have worked on the betas you dated in New York, but you're in Bulldog territory." he replied with a cocky smile, his jock goons barking all around the girls, one jumping out and pinching Brandys butt making her screech loudly and spin around frantically to find some jock she didn't even recognize laughing at her. "but please, fight back. You'll only make it harder on yourself" he threatened, moving to leave then eyeing Brandy about to pummel the boy who touched her "Matt, leave her alone, she's the freaks bitch, remember?"

The boy identified as Matt barked out a horrendous laugh that echoed in Brandy's ears making them throb, her anger was only cooking up a shit storm again. Furiously she stomped down this _Matt's_ foot then caught up with Chuck and clamped a hand on his shoulder aggressively forcing him to turn and face her "listen here, buddy, you better enjoy this whilst it lasts because _this_ right here is down right war. And when we're done with you, you _will_ apologize to Veronica and every other girl you have harassed like this before or so help me I will take that bulldog crap attitude and wrap it up in barbed wire then shove it so far up your friggen-"

" _And_ thats quite enough Brandy" Mel cut her off with a nervous laugh, grabbing her arms and pulling her away from a unaffected looking Chuck. "come on, calm down" she whispered into her ear and Brandy realised the entire changing room was staring at her bawled up fists and fiery expression. Slowly, she let he composure steady.

Chuck rolled his eyes " _Girls_ " he spat like the term was an explicative then retreated from the room.

" _BOYS"_ She screamed back at him.

.

A lesson with Grundy rolled around and hand't gone as explosively as Brandy had expected it too, Miss Grundy had been really nice considering Brandy had missed nearly a weeks worth of lessons. They played the violin for a while whilst making small talk, unfortunately about how each of their summers went, Grundy obviously leaving out the Archie part of hers. Then it was over, and the tenuous hour came to an end so she could escape to the safety of the school corridor.

Shutting the classroom door she exited, humming the tune of one of her favorite songs; 'Don't go breaking my heart' by Elton John. She was just about to go drop her violin case off in the music cupboard and the hall was more of less empty…

Smiling she stopped humming and sang loudly "Don't go breaking my heart!" swaying her hips to the side at the tune playing in her mind, opening the cupboard and gently placing the violin case down on the middle shelf, shutting it after her. Before she could turn around a pair of hands fell over her eyes making her yelp slightly.

Then a warm familiar voice very near her ear said "i couldn't if I tried" to continue the song she'd started. Brandy whirled around with a bright smile to meet Jugheads own traditional half smirk.

"Well, hello there stranger" she greeted, putting her hands on her hips accusingly.

Jughead snorted "i saw you yesterday… you have an odd definition of 'stranger'""

She looked down at her nails, keeping the fake frown creasing her features dormant "no calls, no messages, for all I knew you were dead" she shrugged idly.

He lightly punched her arm " _Brandy"_ he sighed a plead making her giggle as they both began to walk back towards the canteen "Accept the fact i'm an introvert who has low morals and rarely messages back to even close friends. Thats just how I roll"

"i know, dork. So, what were you doing lurking in the music corridor like a creep, you aren't thinking of taking up music are you? from what I just heard your singing could do with a bit of touching up..." she teased.

"that wasn't singing. I don't sing" he grumbled back.

"aw, c'mone Jug, sing the next line will you? What is it… _honey if I get restless… baby your not that kind"_ she sang, looking at her best friend expectantly. "come on, your turn."

"i don't sing" he repeated blankly.

"pleaaase. Do it for me? i'll cry if you don't" She threatened.

"i don't care" he retorted.

"you're no fun"

"and you're an idiot."

"you like it."

"sadly"

Amused, she looked upwards at him as they reached the canteen "so, care to explain why you were waiting in music, was it for me? Aw, Jug you're so sweet" she cooed at him.

he sent her a dead panned expression "i need a companion"

"obviously, you haven't had a girlfriend since third grade...well... was she really your girlfriend? she bribed you. it doesn't count."

"not that kind of companion" he rolled his eyes and folded his arms "Betty hired me for the Blue and Gold to investigate the murder of Jason Blossom, a little bird told me your the papers photographer. Wanna team up and go on a hunt for Dilton Doiley?" he asked, rubbing his nose with one hand.

"Dioley… whats he got to do with... _oh_ I totally forgot that he and his scouts were the ones to find Cheryl by the river. Daym Jug, nice thinking, I don't think even the cops are pressing him that much, like at all" she praised.

Jughead shrugged "it was Betty's idea, really"

 _ugh._

Blinking slightly in shock at the knot forming in her stomach she quickly added "so why do you need me to go with you? Why not take _Betty?"_ the drop in her tone on Betty same was unintentional, but still there.

Jughead didn't seem to notice "Well, as marvelous as Betty is I wouldn't choose her to be my partner in crime." he explained blandly "Then there's the fact your the photographer for the paper, and we'll need some shots of the scout team if this gets published."

"i guess… so does this mean we'll be missing break and third lesson?"

"probably." he shrugged like it was nothing.

After a moment's thought she gave in "ok, whatever, I hate maths anyway so it's not like I have anything to loose"

that half smile made a return on the boys face "Good, lets go then before scouts training ends" he ordered walking on, then hesitating "oh and by the way, that was Elton Johns worst song, not that his other songs were any good." he said, the bounded ahead.

"Jughead Jones you take that back!"

.

No more than ten minutes later they were down on the fields where scouts training commenced, Dilton Doiley marching up and down a straight, horizontal, line of his scouts barking information at them like it was friggen gospel.

"SO, Sherlock, first thoughts?" she whispered as they crossed the field, turning her camera on to snap some shots. "any juicy deductions yet about Doiley?"

Jughead hummed thoughtfully, grimacing slightly at the wet ground that was soaking through his shoes "Doiley wasn't the only one there, he's just the only one being questioned. Hardly seems fair in my opinion."

"Very true" she nodded in agreement comically fast, raising the camera to her face to take a picture of the scouts in action before they disbanded.

They arrived besides the scouts just as Doiley said "and in that moment of hesitation, you're dead" patronizingly, specifically into one boys face who looked like he was about to cry.

"At ease, Doiley" Jughead commented grimly, shoving his hands in his pockets, the scout leader turning to face them somewhat shocked. _And in that moment of hesitation, he would be dead_ she thought humorously. "we're writing an article for the Blue and Gold. Hoping you can help."

Doiley stared at them with his arms crossed condescendingly "Dismissed. But stay close" he called over his shoulder to his scouts he broke line formation to go do their own thing.

"do you mind if I snap a few pics?" she asked sweetly, waving her camera in her hand to get his attention.

He considered it for a moment " Sure, but strictly for school purposes only." he warned and she gaped at him in disgust whilst Jughead rolled his eyes. In annoyance she turned the flash on and snapped a photo of him, purposely blinding him for a moment.

Before things could escalate Jughead cut to the chase "Cheryl and Archie say they heard a gunshot on July 4th, but the don't know who fired"

 _Click._

She snapped another shot of his face.

"Sheriff Keller already asked me about this, like I told him, my scouts and I, we didn't hear anything weird." Dioley responded defensively.

 _Click._

Jughead stepped forward challengingly "well, did yo _see_ anything weird?"

Doiley put on a false thoughtful face, humming in a mocking manner "A white-winged crossbill, a long eared owl. Oh, and Cheryl, sitting by the river, soaking wet" he jeered.

 _Click_

"So, what your saying is Cheryl and Archie are crying gunshot?" She asked, not facing them and instead the scouts who didn't look to happy getting their photo taken. "you think, Jason's twin sister, and Archie Andrews who was a fellow jock to Jason, are lying?"

 _Click_

Dioley looked agitated "Look, I told you already, I didn't hear or _see_ anything weird so I don't know what your trying to get out of this." he exasperated. _Click. "_ Will you _please_ stop that?" he snapped at her and the noise her camera kept making.

"Why, something wrong, Doiley?" Jughead questioned with raised eyebrows as Brandy lowered her camera with a smirk.

Doiley glared at them at loss for words "if you'll excuse me I have to get back to training" he dismissed himself without another word, sweating.

Brandy and Jughead shared a look "Guilty." she immediately concluded, flicking through her photos briefly then stuffing the camera back into her backpack.

"you think he killed Jason?" Jughead inquired curiously as they began departing.

"No… but i've never seen somebody squirm like that and not have _something_ to hide." She theorized "then again, everyone in this town seems to have something to hide."

Jughead tapped her shoulder and pointed to an individual scout, the same one that Doiley had been shouting at when they entered the area. "That one, he looked at me weirdly when we were interrogating Doiley. He knows something."

She fought back a crooked smile "He looked at you weirldy?"

" _Yes_ " Jughead nodded.

"You know that wouldn't stand up in a court right?" She stated, amused at the way Jughead sent her an exasperated glance "i mean, we can't just go off the fact that a guy looked at you weirdly and your getting all hot and bothered about it..."

Her bestie threw his arms upwards "Im not gay!" he shouted, catching the attention of some nearby. "That's not okay. He's not even our age."

"I know- i know! i'm just teasing" she giggled "We have are next mission then"

"I'll talk to him after school, you have ballet." Jughead reminded her with a playful flick on the head to which she groaned inwardly at (to the ballet. Not jughead. Obviously.)

"and miss you possibly scaring the living daylights from the poor innocent mind of that oh so naive kid back there?" She grinned "i wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll cancel ballet."

Jughead rose an eyebrow at her "if your sure..."

"always." She readjusted her backpack as they began walking back "you know, if this is going to be a re-occurring thing now can we at least have a cool team name? Blue and gold is boring. who chose blue and gold?"

Jughead shrugged "It's the school colors and Betty likes is."

She pouted "So we're not going to go down the whole Mystery Gang route?"

"no."

"… can we at least have code names?"

"If I say no are you just going to keep persisting?"

"most likely."

"… yeah, it's still a no."

Whilst shaking her head she pulled out her phone, seeing five new text messages. "Oh shoot, Betty's just sent me the bat signal- I gotta run- you stalk the kid and give me a shout when we're going to make our next move! Laterz!" Brandy saluted him with one hand then sped off up the field at top pace to make it back to the school.

She missed Jughead smiling fondly after her.

* * *

 _ **AN: i'm baaaack.**_

 _ **Sorta. This feels like another filler chapter for when things get real. oh well. hope y'all enjoyed.**_


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